Annual National Servicemen’s Memorial to lay 19 plaques for members

Widows of deceased national servicemen will lay poppies on their plaques this month as the annual memorial service immortalises their stories.

They were the young men called up to strengthen Australia’s Defence Force and serve in conflicts, now annual ceremonies such as the Townsville National Servicemen’s memorial are immortalising their story and providing a supportive community to the surviving ‘Nashos’.

In post World War two Australia, the fear of communist rule and the perceived threat of global and regional conflicts saw the introduction of national service by the Menzies’ government, with bipartisan support.

This involved the first national service scheme in the 1950s as a response to the Korean War, and the second scheme that was introduced from 1965 to 1972 as the product of a recruiting crisis during the Vietnam War.

Of the 287,000 young men who were called up to serve, 212 were killed in Vietnam and Borneo and 1,479 were wounded, while 184 lost their lives during training in Australia between 1965 and 1972.

President of the National Servicemen’s Association of Australia (Qld) Inc Townsville and District Branch, Neville Hines said that at this year’s memorial event 19 plaques would be laid for the members they had lost in the last year.

National Service Association Townsville branch president Neville Hines is set for National Service Day service at Rowes Bay today. Picture: Evan Morgan

“Each year we have the memorial service at Rowes Bay and we have the widows who are able, come along and place poppies on their husbands plaques. It’s a pretty big ceremony,” he said.”

“We are an ageing organisation and we are not going to be around long into the future.”

“We’ve organised a memorandum of understanding with the Queensland RSL – Northern branch – so that the memorial service that we have can continue into the future until the last national servicemen in our branch passes away.”

Representatives from the ADF, emergency services, ex service organisations and city council will be in attendance showing their respects, and members of the public are invited to attend.

The ceremony will be held at the National Servicemen’s Memorial at Rowes Bay Park at 10am on Sunday June 30.

Originally published as Annual National Servicemen’s Memorial to lay 19 plaques for members