Forty people gathered in windy conditions today (Wednesday, August 15) to honour servicemen and women at the Victory in the Pacific Service – the 73rd commemoration of victory over Japan.
The service at the Memorial, Buckland Park on Springwood’s Macquarie Road at 11am was run by Springwood RSL Sub-Branch.
Wycliffe Christian School’s Nathan Passau gave the address telling those gathered that with one million serving in the armed forces during World War II from a population of seven million it meant “everyone in Australia would have been related to or known” someone involved. Those at home also “pulled together” for the war effort, he said.
“When Prime Minister Ben Chifley announced the end of the war … it was a defining moment for all of Australia .. it ended years of privations ... he remembered those who lives were given.”
In a prayer James Walker, also from Wycliffe Christian School, asked those gathered to “never forget how much we owe for our freedom”.
Springwood RSL President Jim McKinnon asked those gathered to put their hands together for Joyce Evans, 94. Mrs Evans was the only person wearing medals from World War II. She had received her medals for work as an Orderly Corporal at Concord Hospital and was also wearing her husband’s Kevin’s medals, who had been a Prisoner of War.
Refreshments followed in the nearby Red Cross Hall, where knitted poppies covered a tree outside the hall.
