‘THEIR NAME LIVETH’: Looking back on a moving ceremony

With Anzac Day being commemorated in different ways today, The Queensland Times reflects on a touching service at Bundamba last year.

Images of the 2019 Bundamba Anzac Day dawn service.

WITH Anzac Day being commemorated in different ways this year, The Queensland Times reflects on a touching service at Bundamba last year. QT photographer Rob Williams describes Dawn Service as he witnessed it.

4:15am: Anzac Day - Bundamba War Memorial

THE monolith and gathered crowd are bathed only by street light and silence.

Three words frame the memorial entrance, "Their Name Liveth". It's a phrase taken from the King James Version of the Bible: "Their bodies are buried in peace; but their name liveth for evermore."

Images of the 2019 Bundamba Anzac Day dawn service.

The soft rumble of a military vehicle breaks the silence.

VETERAN Keith Pennell, 93, raises his frail hand to wave to the crowd.

Applause from adults and children on the street rise to crescendo as the vehicle passes. The Jeep stops outside the memorial along with the applause. Again, silence.

Images of the 2019 Bundamba Anzac Day dawn service.

Keith makes his way slowly from the car to his seat near the monolith.

Keith gets it. He is a soldier of the past, and we are grateful. He is the reason their name liveth.

Images of the 2019 Bundamba Anzac Day dawn service.

4:27am: The Catafalque party mounts

ONE sentry stands perfectly still, resting on arms, with his head bowed. His left arm is covered in tattoos.

That wouldn't have happened in Keith's day.

The tattooed sentry is not from Keith's generation, but he gets it.

He is a soldier of the present, and we are grateful.

He is the reason their name liveth.

Images of the 2019 Bundamba Anzac Day dawn service.

4:35am: Young children at the ceremony are invited to pay their respects.

HUNDREDS of students in school uniform line up to lay a handmade cross on the monolith. Afterwards they move out in unison and stand to attention with front row seats of the Catafalque party, who are still perfectly still, and still resting on arms.

Students are standing face-to-face with the tattooed soldier. Some are staring more than the others. They are the next generation. They get it. They are soldiers of the future, and we are grateful. They are the reason their name liveth.

Images of the 2019 Bundamba Anzac Day dawn service.

 

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