Brunswick school service pays tribute to Anzacs

Brunswick Primary School paid its respects to the Anzacs at an early service on the last day of term.

Guest speaker and Brunswick resident Liz Burgoyne gave an emotional address focusing on her great-uncle Ernest John Finlay.

Mrs Burgoyne said several members of her family had served in the army but Anzac Day for her was also a day to remember her great-uncle who died in France from wounds caused by a grenade.

Her mother’s uncle, who was born in Albany in 1898, was one of the country’s young men eager to join the war effort but at age 17 was too young.

He decided to make the long journey to Canada and enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force.

“He was sent to France in 1916 but sadly died a few months later, at the age of 18,” Mrs Burgoyne said.

“These young men going to war had no idea of the horrors they would face but they went anyway to do their bit for their country.

“They died a long way from home and many of them at a very young age.”

Mrs Burgoyne said her mother told her about the fate of her great-uncle and she had researched his war records.

Students recited Anzac tribute poems and the choir presented “And They March” before the laying of wreaths.