Anzac Day is principally a commemoration of the Service and Sacrifice of RFAS (Returned from Active Service) veterans from WW1.
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It is their history we have received; handed down through subsequent RFAS veterans from WW2, Korea, Malaya Borneo, Vietnam and subsequent conflicts.
It is the duty of any Anzac Day organisation to remember their service, living or deceased.
It is not for some committee somewhere to arbitrarily decide to 'retire' a banner simply because there are now no RFAS veterans alive to march from any conflict.
That is a complete betrayal of the service and sacrifice those veterans have made.
Citing from the article printed in the Central Western Daily on April 5, it states, "it (the WW1 banner) should have been retired, I'm going to say, back in the 1980's because there was no veterans to march behind it".
I believe that's incorrect and, even if it were true, it shows a distinct lack of knowledge and the meaning or the service of an RFAS veteran and what he/she has given to his/her country.
And, if the WW1 banner is to be "retired" as and when some committee sees fit, what then is the purpose of Anzac Day and the march itself?
Making a banner for the 'descendants' to march behind is fine. But for it to have preference in the order of the march over a 'retired' banner (lying in some dusty cupboard somewhere where it will never lead a march again) which created the whole reason for the march is simply unacceptable.
Retire it if it requires preservation for the future but replace it with a replica to ensure the history retains the rightful place in the march it has earned.
This is a matter of history and convention; over which ignorance should never prevail.
The banners for each conflict in which Australia has been involved since at least WW1, if not the Boer War, should lead the Anzac march in the consecutive order in which the conflicts arose.
To maintain our historical connection with the original Anzac troops is the very reason we march.
The banners for the conflicts in which Australia has been involved, regardless of whether or not any RFAS veterans are alive, should lead the Anzac Day march in the consecutive order of those conflicts.
That is, simply, honouring their service.
It is the reason we march and the reason why so many ordinary Australians come to pay their respects to those original Anzac veterans.
And finally, this note from the story, "this year it's back to normal, back to 2019. The exception will be the Dawn Service which is starting at 6am, half an hour later than previous years".
The original Anzac forces landed at Ari Burnu point (now Anzac Cove) between 0430 and 0435 hours (4.30am to 4.35am) on April 25, 1915. It is an important time to recall and remember and it should never be altered.
Every Anzac Day Dawn Service commences at 4.30am in recognition of this event.
That time is now established protocol; a very clear act of remembrance for RFAS veterans across Australia and New Zealand and wherever Anzac Day Services are held throughout the world. Yet, our 2022 Dawn Service for Orange veterans is set to commence at 6am ... why?
Noel Clegg, ex-6RAR South Vietnam 1966/67
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