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With beaming smiles and the declaration that ”she's our grandmother“, it was obvious pride that Zoe and Georgia Leach displayed for their grandmother, WW2 Australian Army Nursing Service veteran Capt Ann Leach of Claremont at the Perth Anzac Day Commemorative Service. Photo by Cpl Tracy Tillman, WAUR
Anzac Devotees, a renactment group representing our military past parade for Anzac Day in Perth. This year marked the first time since the dawn of Anzac Day, that we are without a Gallipoli veteran and with only nine WW1 veterans left, part of our history is coming to an end.
However, the youth of Australia are actively seeking to preserve the Anzac legend, as seen by increased attendances at Perth's Anzac services this year.
Record crowds of at least 25,000 assembled for the Kings Park dawn service before making their way into the city streets.
Photo by Cpl Tracy Tillman, WAUR
Sgt Bronwyn Struthers, 16 Bn RWAR, is all smiles for Perth's Anzac Day celebrations.
Photo by Cpl Tracy Tillman, WAUR

CDF Gen Peter Cosgrove joins soldiers of HMAS Kanimbla’s Ship’s Army Detachment for Anzac Day celebrations on station in the North Arabian Gulf.
Photo provided by Sgt Glenn Durrant, SAD HMAS Kanimbla

Kanimbla SAD Anzac Day

By Sgt Glenn Durrant, SAD HMAS Kanimbla
SOLDIERS from HMAS Kanimbla’s Ship’s Army Detachment (SAD) and 111 AD Bty celebrated their Anzac Day in hostile waters in the North Arabian Gulf.
Since sailing from Sydney, the 44 soldiers had worn grey combat overalls but all were keen to don their berets and wear their camouflage uniforms for April 25.
The service began at 4.40am with a catafalque party and prayers.
There was plenty of emotion and thoughts as one soldier said “being a soldier serving my country under its flag means a lot to me, as does Anzac Day. This Anzac Day will hold a special memory for me, as it was held during a time of conflict and in hostile waters”.
The finale of the service was a fly-by of Australian Hornets at the closing stages of the Australian National Anthem with precise timing to end what was a very professional and well-organised ceremony.
HMAS Kanimbla had spent several weeks patrolling the hostile waters monitoring boat movements and assisting coalition forces in the lead up to Anzac Day.
103 Mdm Bty catafalque party take post at Cheras Cemetary in Kuala Lumpur on Anzac Day.
Photo provided by Rifle Company Butterworth
 

A young Aussie tourist takes a moment to reflect at the Anzac Memorial in Battersea Park following a well-attended dawn service in the English capital.
Photo by Sgt Brian Hartigan

Anzac Day all at Battersea
From Sgt Brian Hartigan in London
AS I followed the thickening crowd to Battersea Park on the south bank of the Thames, the first glimmer of dawn touched gathering clouds.
But, having recorded the hottest and driest April since records began, London’s infamous grey skies held back their dampening load just a few hours longer.
Several hundred gathered in the park for an almost-typical Dawn Service – differing only in the atmosphere generated when holiday-makers and ex-pats gather at a quintessentially Aussie event.
Young people, with limited or no family links to military service and draped in Aussie flags, mingled with a goodly number of uniformed or medal-wearing personnel of varying ages, for the brief service – lest we forget.
After traditional biscuits and coffee, I was then off to a proper English breakfast – black pudding and all – followed by briefings on the more public ceremonial parade and wreath laying to come.
With the Metropolitan Police taking security to levels unfamiliar to the average Aussie, I presented my credentials and invitation to numerous ‘Bobbies’ before gaining the necessary access for picture taking.
With scarcely five minutes remaining before Big Ben signalled 11am, a parade of hundreds, led by the band of the Scots Guards, took post in White Hall before New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clarke led a long list of dignitaries and others in laying simple wreaths of red poppies at the foot of the cenotaph.
From there, it was a brisk walk to Westminster Abbey for a Commemoration Service under a roof that was first erected more than 1000 years ago.
Feeling the weight of history all around me, I sat on a humble wooden chair not 10m from a spot where all the kings and queens of England have been crowned since 1066 AD – and reflected.
A WW2 veteran and one of the Rats of Tobruk, Perth's Anzac Day 2003. Photo by Cpl Tracy Tillman, WAUR  

A lighthorseman takes part in the Anzac Day parade along The Strand in Townsville.
Photo by Cpl Jason Weeding, 1JPAU(P)

 
3RAR Padre Chap David Grulke offers a prayer at the unit's Anzac Day dawn service.
Photo by Pte John Wellfare, 3RAR
 

 

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