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ANZAC Day 2015 will be one of the greatest commemorations in Australia’s history, and the Batemans Bay RSL Sub Branch is working hard to ensure it will be one to remember.
A fly-over will be preformed by an RAAF C-130 Hercules at the main service.
The day will begin with the dawn service at the Honour Stone in Clyde Street at 5.55am, and this will feature a short film of the landing at Gallipoli, on the 100th anniversary of this nation-defining event.
“This will be followed by a service honouring men on the Honour Stone and a history of that stone and its significance to the families of this area,” Batemans Bay RSL Sub Branch president Brian Wheeler said.
The names on the Honour Stone, those of 26 soldiers who enlisted from the Batemans Bay area and died in World War I (23) and World War II (three) will be read out by school students.
“The South Coast 222 Cadet Unit will mount the guard for the Honour Stone, and when this service closes, all serving and ex-service personnel and invited guests will be invited back to the Batemans Bay Soldiers Club for breakfast,” Mr Wheeler said.
The Sub-Branch put out invitations for the families and descendents of the 26 fallen soldiers to accept special scrolls on their behalf, and descendents of 10 of the 26 will be there to accept them at the main service.
The soldiers include Mogo resident Alexander Joseph McDonald, who died on the first day of the Gallipoli campaign, and two of his descendents, George Dunn, who died as a prisoner-of-war in Japan in 1943, and Neville Angus Shepherd, who was killed in New Guinea in May 1945 and whose name is last on the Honour Stone.
The scrolls where designed by Eurobodalla artist Jeanne Burggraff and are encased in a polished silver tube with the soldier’s name engraved and mounted on a base crafted by Batemans Bay Men’s Shed volunteer Neil Page.
In a first befitting the occasion, Walbunja elder Muriel Slockee will provide the welcome to country on behalf of the traditional custodians of the land, and the Aboriginal flag will fly alongside those of Australia and New Zealand.
Carroll College student Riley Maher will play the last post at the main service.
The parade will form up at Flora Crescent at 10am, step off at 10.20am for the main service at the Honour Stone at 10.55am.
Welcome to country will be followed by an address from former Royal Australian Navy Captain James Gault.
The service will conclude with an invitation to serving and ex-service members, their partners and invited guests to a private luncheon at the Soldiers Club, after which two –up will be held, from which collected donations will go to Legacy Batemans Bay.