Recognising Recent Sacrifices

The NSW government has released the design and location for a new war memorial to honour the service and sacrifice of post 1990s veterans.

With Anzac Day approaching, is it not time for the Nation’s capital to follow suite?

Presently, it is only elderly veterans who march along Anzac Parade during ceremonies of remembrance who pass memorials erected by the nation in their honour.

When the Australian War Memorial was opened in 1941, there was little sense of the conflicts which would follow the Second World War.

A similar situation existed in 1989 when the National Memorial to the Australian Army was dedicated.

The statue of two soldiers is backed by seven gigantic pillars, representing the major conflicts the Army had been involved in up until that time.

The bronze plaque on the Memorial explains the 20th Century symbolism.

Why is there no memorial to those who served in East Timor, Iraq, and Afghanistan?

The government’s intention is to demolish the existing Army Memorial (relocating the statues) and to build another to honour soldiers who have served in all conflicts, including future ones.

The intention had been to unveil the new Memorial on Army’s 125th Anniversary (1 January 2025).

A lack of available funding and the low priority allocated to the project, however, mean that this is no longer possible.

How can this be?

Lieutenant Colonel Bruce Cameron, MC, RAAC (Ret’d)

 

FILE PHOTO: Members of Overwatch Battle Group–West get ready to participate in an ANZAC Day Dawn Service at Talil, Iraq, 2008. Photo by Brian Hartigan.

.

.


.


.