Community members, veterans and their loved ones honour and remember those who served

Community members, veterans and their loved ones gathered on Thursday morning to honour and remember those who have served their nation at war. The annual Anzac Day service started before the sun rose in the Bunbury CBD and included a march from the Bunbury RSL, and an opportunity for community members to lay wreaths at the base of the War Memorial. Royal Australian Navy member Ross Halsall — now retired — addressed the early morning crowd, reminding the community of the sacrifices those who have fought, died, and lived through war have made for the country. “The Anzac spirit had its beginnings at dawn, on this day, 109 years ago when the then-creme of a young nation’s manpower were flung into battle on the Turkey shores of Gallipoli,” he said. “The result was a military disaster with more than 7600 Australians and 2500 New Zealanders killed, additionally more than 24,000 were wounded.” With Bunbury having less than 2500 males, of which half would have been outside of the eligible age bracket, Mr Halsall said the impact of what occurred during World War I would be inconceivable these days. He told the crowd there would have been about 1000 men eligible at the time, before taking into account men who worked in essential jobs, with “very few” left to choose from when enlistment came around. “In 1914 when the war began, Bunbury was a town of a little under 5000 people yet the honour roll shows that one in eight enlisted with 593 serving in the Great War,” he said. “Only about 1000 would have been eligible. Of those 1000, we have 593 — one in two that volunteered. Five hundred and ninety-three strong men of Bunbury went to war — 124 never returned, and others came home wounded in body and mind. “For such a small, tight-knit community, it must have been a staggering loss and a time of great grief. I think it would be hard for us to imagine these days half of every man between the ages of 18 and 40 suffering such great lost.” It was also, however, a time of great pride as stories of heroism returned home with the Diggers, Mr Halsall said. And it is that Anzac spirit and those lives lost, people gather each April 25 to honour. “The Anzacs fought with a unique toughness, resilience and tenacity that amazed other countries involved, not at least the enemy,” Mr Halsall said. “The term Anzac refers not to a battle, but to people. “We are here today not to remember a great military victory, we are here instead to remember the people and their victories of great sacrifice that, although performed individually, collectively gave us an identity to be immensely proud of as a nation.”