Anzac Day: A lesson in mateship can bring veterans together

It took a simple word from a 16 year old student to drive home what Anzac Day is all about, and it’s a lesson we all can learn from, writes Cairns Post reporter and veteran Pete Martinelli.

IT took a 16 year old student to drive home what Anzac Day is all about.

For years I have stood at dawn then marched with other veterans, with a nagging sensation that we were all missing something, that something wasn’t quite right with the day.

I would not feel comfortable in my own skin as we formed up to march; in fact I felt fraudulent.

And the applause of those looking on was jarred me.

The Anzac Day Dawn Service was held at the cenotaph on Cairns Esplanade. Members of the 51st Battalion and HMAS Cairns at the dawn service. PICTURE: BRENDAN RADKE

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Invariably I’d get home grumpy and irritable, muttering something about the speakers having missed the point, or the crowd just didn’t ‘get it’.

At the time I was not in a very good place and have not been for some time.

For years I have grappled with what my service actually meant in the grand scheme of things and expected the answer to be delivered on a platter or land in my backyard on a flaming meteorite.

I have been angry and have wasted that energy selfishly.

And I was waiting to be delivered something for my troubles.

It took Junny Moon, 16, to articulate what my foggy brain had not put together in the decade since I discharged.

“Be kind to one another, ask someone how they are doing. That is mateship,” Junny said.

“Help your neighbours and help your community.”

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I got choked up listening to him and pretended to rifle through my notepad to confirm a quote.

It was so simple but I had not understood for a very long time, and I wonder if my fellow veterans do either.

We have given, yes, and we are hurt.

But I think that waiting for the world to deliver us something is just going to breed a lifetime of bitterness.

FULL LIST OF FNQ ANZAC DAY SERVICES

The best way to honour those who didn’t come back is to keep serving. Not to retreat into our own echo chambers and angry solitude.

As veterans we are hardwired to serve. And we still have the capacity to serve. Maybe not in uniform overseas but we can all step up and heal ourselves by helping others.

This is a call to action.

Cairns Post reporter and veteran Peter Martinelli.

We have a chance to redefine what it means to be a veteran, we can reshape our image from damaged and build on the moral leg up that our service gave us in the first place.

I invite all vets – from Vietnam to Afghanistan to join me; it is only through helping others that we can heal.

There are rough roads ahead for our cohort. The overdue Royal Commission will tear open some old wounds and the investigations resulting from the Brereton Report is going to force us to consider some sobering implications of our mission in Afghanistan and whether we as veterans now have a collective moral debt.

But the travelling will go a lot smoother if we get the injustice monkey off our backs, roll our sleeves up and get busy.

The best part is, if we help each other, the burden on the creaking veteran welfare system will lessen, our families will be happier and we will start to resemble the people we were actually destined to be.

I’m looking forward to looking in the mirror and recognising the face that is looking back, and I am certain I’m not alone.

I’m not sure where this will lead, I’m winging it a bit here, but the possibilities are exciting. And I need your help.

Reach me at [e-mail] or DM me on Facebook.

Originally published as Anzac Day: A lesson in mateship can bring veterans together