No limits to our heartfelt vote of thanks

A special day was marked by crowds conscious that this year was the last that Australian soldiers would risk all in a distant war.

Lance Corporal Arthur Davis, of the Engineers Regiment, salutes the crowd during the Melbourne march. Picture: David Caird

It was a special Anzac Day, marked by crowds all too conscious that this year was the last that Australian soldiers would risk life and limb in a distant war.

Our troops are finally coming home from Afghanistan, ending two decades of service and sacrifice for them, as well as the sailors and air force personnel who went to war after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US changed the world as we knew it.

In every city except locked-down Perth, the welcome back for Anzac Day from its 2020 COVID hiatus was heartfelt, with big, happy crowds turning out for marches and thronging RSL clubs. More hardy souls braved the chill to attend sombre Dawn Services.

The mood of relief was amplified by the knowledge that the massed ranks of serving defence personnel who marched — spick and span in army khaki, navy or RAAF blue — would not be asked to put their lives on the line in a faraway conflict. For now.

Scott Morrison paid tribute to the 39,000 Australians who had served in military operations in ­Afghanistan since 2001, “the bravest” of their generation.

“This Anzac Day, another chapter in our history is coming to a close, with the announcement last week of our departure and that of our great friend and ally, the US, from Afghanistan,” the Prime Minister said at the Dawn Service in Canberra.

“Australia has been a steadfast contributor to the fight against terrorism. It’s been our longest war. The world is safer from the threat of terrorism than when the twin towers were felled almost 20 years ago, but we remain vigilant.

“This has come at great cost: 41 Australian lives lost in Afghanistan, whom we ­especially remember and honour this morning.”

Scott Morrison at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Zeroing in on veterans’ welfare, Anthony Albanese said the families of those who had died by suicide were owed the royal commission Mr Morrison called last week.

“This year alone, we have ­already lost 18 to suicide — and it is only April,” the Opposition Leader told a service in Balmain, Sydney.

“To them, and all those who have gone before, and those who are at risk now, we owe them this much at the very least.”

In Brisbane, an unrestricted crowd lined the march route four-deep through the CBD and cheered the handful of World War II veterans who travelled in a convoy of silver cabs.

Vietnam veteran Vic Smith, 73, a helicopter gunner who deployed to East Timor in 2000 to round out a 40-year military career, said the nation owed a debt of thanks to the generation that fought the Nazis and Japanese from 1939 to 1945.

“They did it hard and as far as I am concerned, they did it for the right reasons,” he said. “I don’t like war and I have seen a bit of it. We should hold on to those WWII people while we can because we won’t see their like again.”

Emile Smets and Samuel Baker at Brisbane’s march. Picture: Richard Walker

In locked-down Perth, where the 72-hour stay-at-home edict by WA Premier Mark McGowan was in full force, people made the best of Anzac Day by reverting to last year’s arrangements to deliver a personal tribute from balcony or kerbside.

In the northern suburb of Currambine, 14-year-old Damon de Winter donned the slouch hat of his late great-grandfather Randall Harding, who served in WWII. He had been close to Harding and had attended Dawn Services with him.

His mother, Chantal, pinned to Damon’s shirt his great-grandfather’s war service medals and those of the great-great-grandfather he never met.

At the ticket-only Dawn Service in Melbourne, hundreds who couldn’t get in watched on from behind temporary fencing. Jason Lind and his son, Oliver, travelled from South Australia to attend but missed out on an allocated spot. “We have been trying to get here for years,” said Mr Lind, 48.

Cash, 10, and Billie Rose Alway, 8, draw Melbourne’s march. Picture: Tony Gough

A COVID cap might have limited the number of marchers in Sydney, but the reception was as enthusiastic as ever as a long line of veterans, relatives, military bands and serving Defence Force members made their way along Elizabeth Street in loud and ­colour­ful procession.

Among them was John O’Brien and his daughters, Eleanor, 2, and Caitlyn, 7, who carried a picture of their grandfather, Thomas O’Brien.

“He served in the 31st Battalion during World War II,” John O’Brien said. “He was a good man, a strong infantryman. The girls are proud.”

Also marching in Sydney was James Lee, of the Korean Veterans Association, who turned out with a band of brothers from that 1950-53 war garbed in their original ­uniforms.

“It’s a great day, we’re all happy to be here,” Mr Lee said.

Marching alone, Christine Gayle Munroe wore the medals earned by her father, Edmond Harry Munroe, in World War I.

“People are always shocked when I tell them my father served in WWI. But he did, and I’m proud of him,” she said.

Additional reporting: Paige Taylor Angelica Snowden