ADF personnel are formed up listening to the Prime Minister’s address.

Dignitaries enjoy the procession.

Photos by Cpl Neil Ruskin, 1JPAU

Ville turns out for troops
Prime Minister expresses our nation’s gratitude

By Hugh McKenzie and Capt Anthony Kirk

A TRI-SERVICE march-past earlier this month in Townsville welcomed home ADF personnel who deployed on a range of recent operations including:

Operation Citadel East Timor), Op Bel Isi (Bougainville), Op Pomelo (Eritrea and Ethiopia), Op Paladin (Israel, Syria and Lebanon), Op Mazurka (Sinai), Op Catalyst (Iraq), Op Relex II (Australia’s North-West maritime approaches), and Op Anode (Solomon Islands).

A flyover of Army and RAAF aircraft supported the afternoon march attended by the Prime Minister John Howard and CA Lt-Gen Peter Leahy.

Following the formal march, personnel assembled in a near-by park where the Prime Minister addressed them. Expressing the gratitude of a nation, the Prime Minister highlighted how the ADF had achieved everything asked of it with tremendous distinction and style”.

Appreciating the support that ADF members receive from their loved ones he passed on “a very special thanks,” to the families of ADF members. Speaking of the many operations that the Army has been involved in over the past few years, the CA, Lt-Gen Peter Leahy said, “I have never been disappointed and the people that speak to me talk of their admiration for an Army that does a difficult job well and with great pride.

“I also admire and respect the families who remain behind when we send our soldiers away to do difficult and often dangerous jobs.

In many ways they do it harder than the people in the field do.”