CROWDS will gather along Banna Avenue today as respected war veterans and their families march to honour those who paid the ultimate price for freedom.
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While reverential community members look on, second generation war veteran Terry Walsh will march for himself and for his father who served in World War II.
Martin Walsh enlisted in the Citizen’s Military Forces in 1941 when he was 30 years old.
“He enlisted, as they all did, and then received an automatic transfer to the Second Australian Imperial Force (AIF) before he was sent overseas in 1944,” Terry Walsh said.
“He served from 1944 to the end of the war with the 9th Army Troops Company as a sapper in the Royal Australian Engineers Corp in Morotai and Borneo.”
When Martin Walsh was packed into one of the barges for the “terrible” trip to the islands, he left behind his wife and new son.
“I came along in 1943 and didn’t get to see him until late 1945,” he said.
Like many men who returned from war, Martin Walsh never said too much about his experiences or what he saw.
In 1967, Terry Walsh became a second generation soldier when he was sent to serve in Vietnam in the Royal Australian Artillery.