I salute all our veterans and those who never made it home. I salute those veterans who have gone on to just reward in wars long ago, those who are well remembered and those long ago wars that have long been forgotten by the masses. I salute out wounded warriors of today and those who still serve us. Today is your day.
I salute the veterans I have a ton in my family my husband, my father, my father in law and both of my grandfathers
We stand now at the passing of over a century since the end of World War One, one of the deadliest conflicts of the twentieth century and indeed most of history. Nine million combatant deaths, seven million civilian deaths directly caused by the conflict, and an estimated fifty to one hundred million deaths caused by subsequent revolutions, genocides and the influenza pandemic of 1918. Australia was but a fledgling nation, formally declaring federation on January 1st 1901. Out of a population of just under five million, over four hundred thousand men volunteered to fight, and over sixty thousand of them made the supreme sacrifice. It is said Australia was truly born in the trenches of Gallipoli, where the legend of ANZAC - shared with our cousins in New Zealand - took shape. In honour of these events, I present, courtesy of the Royal Military College Band and the Royal Australian Airforce YouTube channel, Corporal Matthew Creek performing The Last Post at the Australian War Memorial.
Have my poppy on my jacket. Surprisingly not a lot of people have them on when I was out and about for a chunk of today. But I hope it's not wrong to point it out.
