It was a Corrimal Anzac march like no other.
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As hundreds of people gathered to pay their respects at Sunday’s service, trucks were driven into place along the Princes Highway and Railway Street.
The heavy-vehicle roadblocks were used alongside traditional traffic-control measures, like barrier boards and cones, amid heightened terrorism concerns.
Six trucks – including at least one with a trailer – not only stopped traffic but passers-by, too, as they blocked sections of the CBD streets
Despite the drastic safety measures, Corrimal RSL sub-branch vice president Neil McLean said it was business as usual for Diggers and their families.
“Today [Sunday] is the most important day for this club and for the sub-branch,” Mr McLean told the Mercury.
“We march for our diggers who never came home … to make sure that they’re never forgotten.”
The Corrimal march, held annually on the Sunday prior to Anzac Day, almost didn’t go ahead this year.
The service was cancelled after the Corrimal RSL indicated it couldn’t cover the estimated $20,000 cost of implementing the required anti-terror measures.
The march was later saved by Thomas Pulleine, a war veteran and owner of a Parramatta-based security company, who stepped in to help cover the costs.
Mr McLean said there had been “a lot of turmoil” around this year’s march, but praised those involved in making it happen.
“We’ve never had to have this security that we’ve got today; that’s something that’s never, ever been thought of before in all the years that we’ve been running it,” he said.
“We do need to be very vigilant in regards to what’s been happening … but today, thanks to a lot of people, we’ve got Kenworth trucks blocking the highway [and] we’ve got the roads and traffic authority who have come on board.”
The trucks were used to prevent vehicle-based attacks.
Pre-Anzac Day services were also held at Jamberoo, Dapto, Albion Park and Warilla across the weekend.
Anzac spirit on show in Corrimal
The war veteran who stepped in to help make Corrimal’s annual Sunday Anzac service a reality says it was the community’s fight that ensured it went ahead.
Mr Pulleine, a veteran of the Iraq war and the Australian Army missions to East Timor and the Solomon Islands, said Anzac Day events “need to happen”.
“If we don’t do that, we went to war to fight ... and we’re losing in our own country because of red tape,” he said.
“The amount of work the sub-branch has done is remarkable. Some people would get bogged down with the red tape here, the sub-branch has fought through and used that Anzac spirit to get this up and running.”
Mr Pulleine described the anti-terror measures as “disappointing”, but said it was “the society we live in now”.
“As a community, we’ve all gotta stick together otherwise the terrorists do win,” he said.
“I don’t want to go into that side of it, but obviously here if this doesn’t go ahead there’s a lot of older veterans here, who’ve had this event for many years, that miss out.”