For Glenn Defaveri, Kevin Podolski and Keith Stafford, the 102nd anniversary of the Anzac landing at Gallipoli provided a stark reminder that they are now taking their place as elders among those who have served for Australia at war.
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Gathering over early morning drinks at City Diggers after the Wollongong dawn service, the three Vietnam veterans shook their heads and blinked back tears as they reflected on a changing of the Anzac guard.
“It’s come on all of a sudden, you’re looking back and thinking we were the young ones looking at the second world war veterans who were old – now we’re the old ones,” Mr Defaveri said.
Earlier, at the dawn service, Mr Podolski said he at been struck by watching people cover their chests as they paid their respects to those who died at war, in recognition that no medal would ever adequately match “the ultimate sacrifice”.
“I always think about the idea that, no matter what medals you’ve got, you can’t ever do as much as what that person has done,” he said.
Organisers estimated about 2500 people attended the 4.45am service – the first of many to be held around the Illawarra –at MacCabe Park.
Among them, was 95-year-old Ronald Sewell, of Farmborough Heights.
The second world war veteran, who served in Borneo, posed for a photo with his five-year-old great-grandson Miller in front of the arch after the service.
Around them, his extended family – who travelled from as far as the Gold Coast – watched on.
“It’s terrific to see so many people, to think that so many people still come after all these years,” he said.
The emergence of a new generation of veterans and active service people alongside an enduring Australian tradition has been a common theme of Anzac Day 2017.
In his dawn service address, Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Bailey combined history with the modern lessons of war.
“On this day 102 years ago, 16,000 New Zealanders and Australian surged ashore at the foot of the rugged cliffs of the Dardanelles peninsula to open the campaign intended to give allied shipping access to the Black Sea, helping Russia and perhaps to force Turkey out of the war,” he said.
“One of these soldiers was Sergeant Robert McClelland, aged 21 from Wollongong, who was killed one day after the landing at Gallipoli.”
Lt Col Bailey described the “courage, skill and audacity” of those who fought in the “ill-conceived campaign in pursuit of a vague objective”.
“When the last of them was withdrawn as winter set in, about 11,000 New Zealanders and Australians lay dead and with them many more allied and Turkish soldiers,” he said.
“The names on public memorials in virtually all our cities and towns are important regular reminders of the losses that fell in those darker days.”
“363 names from World War I are inscribed on the Wollongong war memorial with 73 of them recorded as paying the ultimate sacrifice.”
“The memorial has grown to include the details of other conflicts and peacekeeping operation that members of the Wollongong community have contributed towards.”
Young veterans Annah Whittaker and Ryan Wilson, who met in the Navy while serving in Afghanistan, said every Anzac Day held a huge significance.
“We always make sure we make the most of it, and we want to make sure people remember it for the right things as well, not just for young people who don’t know what it’s for and just take advantage of the day off,” Mr Wilson said.
“It’s about respecting people who have made the ultimate sacrifice, and people who continue to make a sacrifice by choosing to go away and train for something and giving up their family life,” Ms Whittaker said.
“Anzac is 102 years old, but there’s still people serving in conflict today – so we need to remember that too.”
The pair, who left the Navy together and now run a restaurant together in Wollongong, have been pushing for support and awareness aboue for young veterans dealing with post traumatic stress disorder and suicide.
“In the past two years, the cover is slowly coming off it and people are starting to take more notice of these issues, so that’s fantastic,” Mr Wilson said.
As head of reserves and youth in the Australian Defence Force, Illawarra resident Rear Admiral Bruce Cafer believes the future of the Anzac movement – and Australia’s armed services – is in good hands.
“On Anzac Day, I think about those who have gone before and their sacrifice, and then from my own perceptive, my mates and colleagues I’ve served with in 40 years in the Navy,” he said.
“We have a generation of men and women now who served in conflict in recent years who bring back the scars of those battles, and it’s good to see the Department of Defence and Veterans Affairs now working much harder to deal with mental health issues.
“But I see younger men and women who are still very committed to what we do, they are still very loyal, proud, articulate and really resilient, so I’m very confident about the young generation of men and women who will take up the torch and carry it on our behalf into the future.”
At Coledale, about 500 people gathered for the dawn service organised by the Coledale RSL Sub-Branch.
Following a welcome by sub-branch president Jim Bates, two students from Coledale Public School, Ella Keers and Billy Banyard, read a story about Matron Ida May Greaves from World War I followed by a performance of two songs by the school choir as the sun coloured the morning sky.
Davis Green then gave a prayer of thanksgiving and Bob Hayley read a poem about mates before Judy Bull read a letter sent from a solider from World War I.
- with Greg Ellis at Coledale
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Kate McIlwain
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
