IN the dark of night servicemen and women from some of Australia’s most recent conflicts gathered at the Bathurst War Memorial Carillon.
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The recent service was to honour those who had served at conflicts in the Gulf, Iraq, East Timor and Afghanistan, as well as peacekeeping operations.
The service came following the recent additions of the names of these wars and operations to the George Street face of the Carillon.
Bathurst RSL Sub Branch president David Mills said it was as important to honour those who served in recent conflicts as those a century ago.
“It was a commemoration of the Carillon War Memorial to do with the conflicts post 1975,” he said of the service.
Mr Mills is a Vietnam War veteran and he said he was pleased to see that at least one service person from each of these most recent conflicts and operations attended on the night.
The commemoration service coincided with a regular activity by the Bathurst Army Reserve 1st/19th Royal New South Wales Regiment Bravo Company.
“Tuesday evening’s the time when the Army Reserves normally parade so we were acknowledging in a small way their service,” Mr Mills said.
He encouraged servicemen and women, who served after 1975, to get involved with the Bathurst RSL Sub Branch.
“Conflicts didn’t stop at Vietnam, and we’ve got young men and women and we need to make sure their needs are met,” Mr Mills said.
Conflicts didn’t stop at Vietnam and we’ve got young men and women and we need to make sure their needs are met.
- Bathurst RSL Sub Branch president David Mills
He said sub branch meetings are “good therapy” and they help people realise that they are among people with similar backgrounds who are willing to share.
“Current sub branch members are getting older, and to be very candid, we’ve got three to five years to change the baton,” he said.
The Bathurst RSL Sub Branch is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10am until 1pm.
Recent conflicts
IN mid April this year the words Gulf War, East Timor, Iraq, Afghanistan and Peacekeeping Operations were added to the George Street face of the Carillon, along with Lest We Forget on all the remaining faces of the memorial. The move was to recognise those who have served in the most recent overseas campaigns.
The Carillon was built in the 1930s and originally served as a memorial to local soldiers who fought and died in World War 1.
Since then, though, it has been updated to include the dates of World War 2 (1939-1945) and the conflicts in Korea, Malaysia and Vietnam.