Australia’s four living Victoria Cross winners to take part in Anzac memorial events for Lone Pine

OUR four living Victoria Cross recipients will make a special pilgrimage to stand shoulder to shoulder on the hallowed Lone Pine turf.

ECEABAT, TURKEY - APRIL 25: Distinguished Australian war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith, who is a recipient of the Victoria Cross Australia, holds his hand over his heart as the Australian national anthem is played at the Dawn Service at the Anzac Commemorative Site, which is the main event to commemorate Australian and New Zealand soldiers who died during the Gallipoli campaign, on the campaign's centenary on April 25, 2015 near Eceabat, Turkey. Turkish and Allied powers representatives, as well as family members of those who served, are commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli campaign with ceremonies at memorials across the Gallipoli Peninsula. The Gallipoli land campaign, in which a combined Allied force of British, French, Australian, New Zealand and Indian troops sought to occupy the Gallipoli Peninsula and the strategic Dardanelles Strait during World War I, began on April 25, 1915 against Turkish forces of the Ottoman Empire. The Allies, unable to advance more than a few kilometers, withdrew after eight months. The campaign cost the Allies approximately 50,000 killed and up to 200,000 wounded, the Ottomans approximately 85,000 killed and 160,000 wounded. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

EXCLUSIVE

AUSTRALIA’S four living Victoria Cross winners will headline a special commemorative service at Lone Pine in August, gathering to remember one of the nation’s bloodiest battles.

The valiant four will stand shoulder to shoulder on Lone Pine’s hallowed turf with a handful of direct descendants of some of the seven Anzacs to receive VCs in the brutal three-day assault on Turkish trenches that helped define the Anzac Spirit.

Only one VC winner remains pre Australia’s involvement in Afghanistan where Mark Donaldson (2008), Ben Roberts-Smith (2010) and Daniel Keighran (2010) each earned the nation’s highest military honour.

August ceremony ... Victoria Cross recipient Keith Payne will make the journey to Gallipoli later this year for a commemoration service. Picture: Tim Marsden

Keith Payne, a distinguished veteran of the Vietnam War, will be 81 when he travels to the Gallipoli peninsula in August.

The Federal Government will be represented at the Lone Pine commemoration service on August 6 by the Minister of Veterans Affairs, Michael Ronaldson who told News Corp Australia it was important to honour both our past and present heroes, and teaching future generations to look after the men and women who serve today.

“The next generation of young Australians will have the responsibility to look after the men and women who have served this nation. It is not often recognised, but there are more Australian men and women who have served since 1999 that served in the whole Korea, Malaya, Borneo and Vietnam theatres of war,’’ he said.

“So our responsibilities don’t end on Saturday, our responsibilities start on Saturday.”

Remembrance ... in coming months, Australians will remember those who served, past and present.

Family members of Lone Pine VC winners Fred Tubb and William Symons have already confirmed their attendance on August 6.

Roberts-Smith is the only VC winner attending the weekend’s 100 year commemoration of the Anzac landing at Gallipoli on contract with Seven News. He leaves these shores today to begin a new career as deputy manager of Seven Network Queensland.

As the Reveille sounded across Lone Pine yesterday, it was not the usual end such rousing bugle play heralds.

New generation ... honouring the Anzac memory and tradition is a major priority. Picture Cameron Richardson.

The first chapter of Australia’s remarkable 100-year commemoration of service was merely closing here at Gallipoli, the scene of the nation’s inglorious war beginnings.

In the coming months, and throughout the next three years, Australians will remember those who served, past and present, across all theatres of war in an extensive collection of commemorative services in three continents.

Landmark services are scheduled for Fromelles and Pozieres next year, Beersheba for the charge of the Light Horse and Passchendaele in 2017, and a myriad of events in 2018 including the 100-year commemoration of the renowned battle of Villers Bretonneux which broke the German spring offensive, and Armistice Day.

Older generation ... Victoria Cross recipient Keith Payne will be 81 when he makes the trip to Gallipoli in August. Picture: Kit Wise

Walking along the road above Anzac Cove yesterday, dressed casually in high-vis vest and greeting marchers making their way to the Dawn Service, retired Major General Mark Kelly told News Corp the large schedule of services would not only honour all soldiers in various theatres of war, but help educate the next generation.

“We are doing it to make people aware that we have this great history of service by our men and women in uniform. And this (Gallipoli) was really the start of it,’’ he said.

Originally published as Australia’s four living Victoria Cross winners to take part in Anzac memorial events for Lone Pine