It's the living who honour the fallen
The Age
Thursday March 18, 2010
EACH Anzac Day, fewer veterans and more of their descendants can be seen marching. The presence of the latter has ensured that Australia's annual commemoration of its war dead, which not so longago seemed to be on the endangered list itself, continues to flourish. The veterans' official representatives, however, do not seem entirely comfortable with their participation.The Returned Services League reportedly is worried that parents with prams and children with dirty jeans are detracting from the dignity of the march, and this year RSL branches across the country have introduced new rules to maintain decorum. In Melbourne, only one descendant will be allowed per veteran; in New South Wales descendants must march in an allocated group; and in Queensland and South Australia the descendants of living veterans must march at the rear. It may fairly be asked whether the enthusiasm of young descendants, especially, will wither if this attitude of censure and segregation continues, and whether the revived Anzac Day attendances of recent years will survive it.How different the rancour over the prospect of young people in jeans marching to Australia's war memorials seems from what is happening in northern France, where the bodies of some Australian soldiers of the first AIF have been exhumed near Fromelles. It is one of Australia's most significant battlefields: 1900 men died and another 3100 were wounded or went missing there on June 19, 1916, the bloodiest 24 hours in Australian military history. The toll equals Australia's combined casualty lists from the Boer, Korean and Vietnam wars.The resting place of some of the dead, buried quickly in a mass grave to prevent the spread of disease, went unknown for 90 years but has been discovered after a two-year investigation. As The Age reported yesterday, the 249 lost Diggers of Fromelles can now be laid to rest again €” and at least 75 of them will have headstones bearing their names. Their identities have been confirmed by matching DNA samples with samples given by relatives, and more remains are being tested.Veterans' leaders are right to be concerned about the dignity of Anzac Day commemorations, but this year they should also remember that it is the descendants, direct or indirect, of the Fromelles Diggers who in a very material way are restoring dignity to these fallen soldiers.The RSL should relax its strictures on marching descendants, for they are Anzac Day's future.
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