Students speak up on a day to remember

By Kath Gannaway
STUDENTS from local schools played a prominent role in Remembrance Day commemorations at Healesville RSL on Sunday.
Healesville High School student Cassie Nugent’s reading of the poem In Flander’s Fields was delivered with an understanding of what the words mean in a very personal sense to many of the people present.
Vietnam veteran and RSL commemorations chairman Ken Swincer spoke of the history of the day which honours all Australians who have died in wars past and present.
Originally known as Armistice Day, the ceremony is held on the anniversary of the day an armistice was agreed to by the countries involved in WWI.
The agreement took effect at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918.
“The Armistice ended four years of hostilities and effectively brought World War I to a close; 61,919 Australiana died at sea, in the air and on foreign soil,” Mr Swincer said.
“World War I was supposed to be the war that ended all wars.
“Sadly as history shows that would not be so. Few Australian families were left untouched by the events of that war. Most had lost a father, a son, a brother, a friend,” he said.
Worawa College Students were among those who stood in line with returned servicemen and women to place a red poppy in memory of those who were killed. Students from St Brigid’s Primary School Choir concluded the ceremony with Advance Australia Fair.
Wreathes were laid by a number of community groups including schools, the SES and the Healesville Guides.
Australians who fought in the Korean War were remembered in a special way with the flying of a commemorative flag. The flag, loaned for the day by its custodian Alan Murray was made to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Korean War and is the only one of its kind in Australia.