Wonthaggi salutes its Afghanistan veterans
Wonthaggi RSL president Major Kevin Walsh dedicated Saturday's Anzac Day service to the 40,000 Australians who served in the nation's longest war.
AUSTRALIA'S Afghanistan veterans were front and centre at Wonthaggi's Anzac Day service on Saturday as hundreds gathered at Soldiers Reserve.
Wonthaggi RSL Sub-Branch president Major Kevin Walsh RFD RAINF (retired) dedicated this year's ceremony to the 40,000 Australians who served in Afghanistan and the 41 listed as killed in action.
"We honour those who served, and their families that supported them," Major Walsh said.
Members of Fallen 41, the Afghan veterans community, were acknowledged during the service.
David Trippier, who served in Bougainville, East Timor and Afghanistan, replied on their behalf.
"All I can say is we did our best to do our duty, and we trust that was enough," Mr Trippier said.
Major Walsh said the RSL motto, "service", was not a slogan but a covenant.
"Service does not expire. It does not retire. It simply changes form," he said.
He reserved particular tributes for Vietnam veterans, telling them: "When you came home you were not met with thanks, but with silence and sometimes even with hostility. That was a shame upon the nation and it is a debt we are still repaying."
Of the Afghan generation he said: "You are the modern face of the Anzac tradition. The Wonthaggi RSL sees you, we hear you, and we are here for you."
He urged the wider community not to assume that because veterans were no longer in uniform they were no longer carrying the weight of their service.
Federal Monash MP Mary Aldred was guest speaker, drawing on the legacy of General Sir John Monash, after whom her electorate is named.
"Monash's legacy is not just in military success. It is in his humanity," Ms Aldred said. "He understood that every soldier was someone's son, brother or father."
She said the values honoured on Anzac Day were not confined to battlefields but lived on in emergency services, volunteers and veterans who continued to serve their communities.
RSL chaplain Reverend Squadron Leader Graeme Liersch led the service in prayer and read from John chapter 15: "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends."
Bass Coast College school captains Matilda Mathieson and Max Abrahamson read In Flanders Field, and the Wonthaggi RSL U3A Choir led Abide With Me.
Bass Coast Shire Mayor and Liberal candidate for Bass Cr Rochelle Halstead was among those laying wreaths, joined by Ms Aldred, Claire Phillips on behalf of State Bass MP Jordan Crugnale, the Department of Veterans' Affairs' Lauren Macri, the Wonthaggi RSL, Fallen 41, South Gippsland Legacy, Victoria Police, Ambulance Victoria, the Wonthaggi CFA and SES, Rotary, Lions, Inner Wheel, Probus, the Friends of the Wonthaggi Coal Mine, local schools and a long list of community organisations.
Scenes from Wonthaggi's Anzac Day service at Soldiers Reserve on Saturday, including the laying of wreaths by community organisations, schools, emergency services and dignitaries.
The service moved through The Ode, the Last Post, a minute's silence and the Reveille.
A scheduled 11am RAAF flypast was delayed but proceeded later in the morning.
Guest historian Professor Daniel Reynaud also spoke on Wonthaggi's first chaplain, Rev Walter Dexter.
Meanwhile a 1942 American-built M3 Stuart tank sitting on one of two rare matching transporter trailers drew a steady stream of visitors outside the service.
The Stuart is owned by Peter Tack and has been restored over several years.
The two trailers are owned by his brother John and carry production numbers stamped just 25 apart in the steel.
"To have two trailers, only 25 numbers apart, that's extremely rare," Peter said.
The tank originally belonged to the US Army before being shipped to Australia and ending up at the Bandiana army base near Wodonga.
After the war it changed hands a number of times in regional Victoria, passing through the Haywood family, then Bob Brooks of Korumburra South, before the Tack brothers acquired it.
Ian Brown of Kongwak fabricated the new top section.
The Stuart originally ran a radial engine but now turns over with an 8V71 Detroit V8.
Peter said about 55 M3 Stuarts had been brought to Australia during the Second World War, with many ending up on farms after their turrets were cut off so they could be used as towing tractors.
He said it's believed the original turret from his tank is buried somewhere inside the State Coal Mine.
To cap the morning off, a RAAF Roulettes Pilatus PC-21 finally thundered over Soldiers Reserve at 11.35am to deliver the delayed flypast.
A RAAF Roulettes Pilatus PC-21 makes a delayed flypast over Wonthaggi's Anzac Day service on Saturday.
