Harvey pauses to reflect on 104th Remembrance Day with service at Harvey War Memorial

“It is a time of remembrance, it is a time of reflection and it is a time of respect.” That is how master of ceremonies David Marshall described Remembrance Day to more than 150 Harvey residents on Friday morning as the town marked the solemn occasion. A service was held at Harvey War Memorial on what was the 104th year the Day has been marked. Harvey RSL sub-branch president Eric Hall said that on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, the guns fell silent on the Western Front. “The Great War was over, the carnage stopped but the suffering went on,” he said. “Australia alone counted the toll in many thousands - the wounded, the damaged and many more.” Mr Hall said most people today can only imagine losing a husband, father, son or brother, with the families left behind after battle was over feeling the loss for the rest of their lives. “Many people, and I am one of them, believe Australia lost the cream of its men: the young, the strong and the brave. The Great War was also called the war to end all wars. We can only see this was a forlorn hope.” Reverend Allan Ward provided the Prayer of Remembrance and asked for forgiveness for the sins that lead to war. “We remember the courage and patriotism of men and women who resisted evil (in the Great War) and defended freedom,” he said. “Help us to the value the freedom eventually won, that we may use it wisely so that people and nations may live together in harmony and in peace, and face the future with confidence and hope.” Harvey Senior High School student Matilda Cumbers recited Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae’s 1915 poem “In Flanders Fields”, while Harvey RSL sub-branch vice president Les Liddington read out the Ode of Remembrance. There were about a dozen wreaths were laid at the memorial during the service, including by Mr Hall, Murray-Wellington MLA Robyn Clarke and representatives of the Shire of Harvey, Forrest MP Nola Marino, local schools and community service groups. Retired Major Laurie Fraser OAM MBE gave the service address and spoke about the battle for Fire Support Base Coral during the Vietnam War. Australian troops had been tasked with disruption the withdrawal of Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces following their withdrawal from Saigon in May 1968. The troops had only just started occupying the area when they came under attack from enemy forces. “At 2.30 in the morning, all hell broke loose,” Mr Fraser said. “Rockets and mortar fire fell on the bay.” By the time the battle ended at around 6am, 11 Australians had been killed, while 28 were wounded. They were on average aged 22. “Over four further weeks of action in Coral and nearby Fire Support Base Balmoral, Australians fought some of the most fierce and sustained battles in the Vietnam War,” Mr Fraser said. “At its end, there would 26 Australians killed and 100 wounded. Together, they had repelled a massive force and had accounted for 300 enemy kill. None who survived would ever be the same again.” Mr Fraser spoke about a member of the 3rd Royal Australian Regiment Battalion and how he returned to the country ashamed to be a Vietnam War veteran. “He had 13 jobs in two years, described Vietnam as ‘the dirty war’,” he said. For some, the pain has been eased by an unit citation for gallantry which was given to soldiers in 2018. Remembrance Day, originally known as Armistice Day, was created to remember those who died in the First World War, but is now extended to commemorate all those who have lost their lives in battle.