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As we face our own battle, we can learn a lot from our veterans

Those complaining about deprivations brought on by pandemic should take note of by the experiences of the remaining survivors of World War II, which ended 75 years ago yesterday.

PM honours Australian troops on 75th anniversary of the end of WWII

Those whining pathetically about the deprivations brought on by the coronavirus pandemic should be shamed by the experiences of the remaining survivors of World War II, which ended with the surrender of the Japanese 75 years ago yesterday.

That was a real war with real enemies. Had the Western nations, the Sov­iet Union and the Nationalist and Communist Chinese not rallied, defeat would have been epic.

Today we face a health crisis, which may have been caused by a known virus modified within a Chinese laboratory, and certainly made worse by critical government bungling at the state and federal level.

When the guns finally fell silent to our north on August 15, 1945, an estimated 70 to 85 million people had perished, 50 to 56 million deaths were directly attributable to the war, the rest caused by famine and disease.

Civilians accounted for between 50 and 55 million of the casualties, military deaths were estimated at between 21 and 25 million, including the deaths of about five million POWs.

Australian POW's in a hut on Hainan Island off China's south coast circa 1945 where 263 Australians and 237 Dutch were held for three years during World War II.
Australian POW's in a hut on Hainan Island off China's south coast circa 1945 where 263 Australians and 237 Dutch were held for three years during World War II.

In the ’50s in Australia, before the great influx of migrants, there was scarcely a family which had not been touched by the war, which had not lost a son, a husband, a father or in rare cases, a daughter, and few living in those years did not know someone who had survived as a captive of the Germans or the horrors of a Japanese POW camp. Around 40,000 deaths as a result of service with an Australian unit are recorded by the Australian War Memorial’s Roll of Honour.

The toll from coronavirus in Australia is still less than 400 with nearly three-quarters of the deaths occurring in Victoria. This is hardly surprising given what we now know about the ­abject failure of Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews’ administration’s continuing mismanagement of the virus.

It should be no surprise that the Labor government applied politics to its approach at every level and it is similarly unsurprising that Andrews and his Cabinet of incompetents were therefore incapable of protecting Victorians from the spread of the virus.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian is guilty of failing to address the problem initially and her government deserves all the opprobrium delivered by Royal Commissioner Bret Walker SC on Friday for the colossal mishandling of the dispersal of the infected Ruby Princess passengers. Fortunately the virus has since been kept more or less in check — except in aged care homes.

Veterans arrive for a service to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of Victory in the Pacific (VP Day) at Martin Place in Sydney on Saturday. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Joel Carrett
Veterans arrive for a service to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of Victory in the Pacific (VP Day) at Martin Place in Sydney on Saturday. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Joel Carrett

The argument mounted by both the NSW and Victorian governments that aged care homes are the sole responsibility of the Commonwealth has some merit. However Canberra must share the blame for its failure to isolate aged sufferers in government aged care homes and place them in hospitals.

This was unforgivable but the failure of state health authorities to intervene must equally be condemned.

The aged were regarded as dispensable while beds in intensive care units remained empty as the numbers of sufferers predicted repeatedly by the ­so-called health experts at state and federal level relying on flawed modelling simply failed to appear. I can only offer my deepest personal sympathy to all those who have lost relatives to this still to be traced virus and particularly those who were unable to be with their parents and grandparents as they died in awful isolation. But our hardships pale against the deprivations endured by the generation that was at war for six long years.

An under-pressure Victorian Premier, Daniel Andrews, leaves a press conference in Melbourne. Picture: NCA NewsWire/David Geraghty
An under-pressure Victorian Premier, Daniel Andrews, leaves a press conference in Melbourne. Picture: NCA NewsWire/David Geraghty

Generation Baby Zoomer is so worried about community transmission of the COVID-19 that it baulks at wearing masks on public transport, let alone in public spaces.

It gets angry that the Wi-Fi isn’t ­letting it download shows as rapidly as it would wish, it is annoyed that pubs and clubs want contact details for possible tracing.

It is on the alert for opportunities to be offended for the sake of being ­offended.

Many, but not all, of Generation Baby Zoomer haven’t a clue about the sacrifices made so they can enjoy the benefits of this era.

These puling pygmies not only ridicule the giants whose shoulders they stand on but who want them and their feats erased from the pages of history.

Lest We Forget is meaningless to a mob which has already wilfully ­forgotten.

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Original URL: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/as-we-face-our-own-battle-we-can-learn-a-lot-from-our-veterans/news-story/d90dcc2e315e2924cbae27e2fc164126