The decision of Brisbane Anzac Day organisers to ban the descendents of veterans from marching alongside them on April 25 will have no bearing on the Batemans Bay and Moruya marches this year, with children as welcome as ever.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
For more local news and photos grab a copy of the Bay Post or Moruya Examiner.
“It’s great to have the kids there, and we fully support them,” Batemans Bay Soldiers Club sub-branch president Brad Avis said.
“It keeps the kids interested, and we have someone to carry it on for us when we are all dead.”
Moruya RSL Club sub-branch member and Vietnam veteran Peter Robinson has been marching with his grandchildren for years and will do so again this year, without hesitation.
“It means a great deal to me, and the kids wouldn’t miss it,” he said.
“It is important to me to the point that if they refused to allow the kids to join me, I wouldn’t march.”
Mr Robinson’s 12-year-old grandson Peter Zahra, who recently moved with his family from Broulee to Sutton, north of Canberra, has marched with Mr Robinson ever since he was old enough to walk, and will be there again with his 10-year-old sister Rozlyn.
“Peter is giving up a country and western festival to come down,” Mr Robinson said.
Mr Robinson served in the Royal Australian Navy between 1958 and 1979, and was stationed aboard the aircraft carrier HMAS Sydney during the Vietnam War, providing logistic support to ground forces.
For him, having the children marching with him is part of a long-time process of acceptance for those who fought in a war that became more unpopular as it went on.
“We were treated like lepers when we came back and it was 10 years before I even joined an RSL club,” he said.
Peter Zahra will soon join the Navy cadets and Rozlyn the Army cadets.