Anzac speech moves hundreds

KATINA CURTIS

A CROWD of hundreds was moved by Gerry McInerney’s Anzac oration at the commemoration service by Kiama’s memorial arch on Friday.

The drizzling rain eased just as the Anzac Day service started and held off until the Last Post was sounded by bugler Warwick Sporne.

The crowd was welcomed by Kiama-Jamberoo RSL sub-branch secretary Bill Humphreys.

He said the Anzac Day service gathered the community together to commemorate the day when Australian young men demonstrated to the world that Australia was truly a nation.

“On this day we remember the sacrifice of such men for an ideal, a way of life,” he said.

“Let us hope that the young men and women never forget the ideals fought for by their forefathers.”

Mr McInerney began his address by wondering what he, as a civilian, could hope to offer the returned service men and women being honoured on Anzac Day.

However, few who heard his speech would have wondered this at its end.

Mr McInerney spoke of the ways in which war affects everyone, as demonstrated by a series of vignettes from his life.

These included seeing the single women at his family’s church in Narrabri, visiting the tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the War Memorial in Canberra and later the place his body was removed from in Villiers-Bretonneux, a neighbour who was tormented by his time in Changi, the war’s effect on a Vietnamese friend and the everlasting impressions made by war cemeteries in Papua New Guinea, Arlington, and France.

“There are things worth fighting for and there are things that we must fight for, but whenever our government talks of war, they and we should question their motives,” he said, recalling the words of former French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau that it is easier to make war than peace.

“We citizens can never fully comprehend the sacrifice and experiences of returned service personnel, despite the best Hollywood attempts.

“We must recognise your efforts on behalf of our nation, not only on that one day of the year … but each and every day. Today all Australians salute you and all those who have gone before to serve this country. This vibrant nation has reaped the benefits of your sacrifices with a proud democracy that will allow and, dare I say, on occasions should even welcome dissent.

“You bravely answered a call. You deserve our thanks.”