Tenterfield RSL Sub branch vice president Bryce Titcume remarked on the number of young people attending the dawn service on ANZAC Day, but that was just the beginning of evidence that the future of ANZAC Day is in good hands.
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There was strong numbers of students (and staff) walking behind their respective school banners in the ANZAC Day parade, despite April 25 falling within the NSW school holidays this year. They continued on to the short service at the conclusion of the parade at Memorial Hall, where they joined with Tenterfield’s remaining two WW2 veterans Dr Dick Keatinge and Bob Smith and those who served in other fields.
The F/A-18F Super Hornet flyover was keenly-anticipated but so quick it was only a glimpse. The jet flew over Rouse Street after tipping a wing to honour those who were lost at the nearby F1-11 crash site on Mt Lindesay Road.
Once inside the hall the speeches by Tenterfield High School captains Amy Graham and Lachlan Dorward had the audience transfixed, and many in tears.
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“Mrs Donnelly had at the close of her speech opened a door that had always been closed in my mind, and perhaps in all the minds of many people my age,” said Amy of last year’s keynote speaker Coral Donnelly. Mrs Donnelly had spoken of the ongoing suffering of those who survive conflict, quoting the line from the ballad And the band played Waltzing Matilda that ‘there are worse things than dying’.
“To our generation when we ‘reflect’ on the meaning of ANZAC Day, we will obviously have a different understanding to those from previous generations,” Amy said.
“To us ANZAC Day is not, and can never be, a celebration of war or heroism, the old terms, the fallen, the field, colours, for king and country,... such terms are not part of our language or our modern culture.
“What we are here today to do is to acknowledge the horrors of war, and to demonstrate that we understand the sacrifices, and the consequences of war on the bodies, minds and families of those who had given service to their nation.”
Lachlan continued the theme, saying that perhaps the power of ANZAC Day lies with how the purpose of the day itself has changed across time.
“From celebration and recruitment… to commemoration, an outpouring of patriotism and national pride, a recognition of the values we hold dear and above all to recognise the sacrifice of all those affected by war,” he said.
“To hold that war itself is terrible rather than glorious, to thank the men and women who served and are currently serving their nation, both the dead and the living and demonstrate our everlasting respect and thanks.”
Keynote speaker for 2018 was Peter Woodrow who regaled some of the more humorous recollections of his grandfather DD Woodrow who served in both World Wars, with a camera in his kit.
The shocking part of Mr Woodrow’s presentation was observing that Lachlan and Amy today are the age that DD was when he went to war, a boisterous 18 stone behemoth who returned a slightly-built ,12 stone quiet war veteran who suffered health consequences for the remainder of his life.
(The full speeches of both Mr Woodrow and the school captains will be made available on the Star website.)
If the calibre of the youth participating in ANZAC Day 2018 in Tenterfield is any measure, respect and gratitude for past and present defence force personnel is in safekeeping.
