Soldier Settlers Villages saw a War Memorial dedication ceremony on Thursday with community members braving the bitter cold to participate in the ceremony.
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To honour the local service and sacrifice of people of Griffith, RSL Lifecare were proud to provide a memorial wall at the Doug and Olive McWilliam Village.
“RSL LifeCare is committed to our heritage of honouring and serving those who served and sacrificed on our behalf and for the generations who will come after us,” they said.
Griffith Mayor John Dal Broi and Member for Murray Adrian Piccoli were also in attendance.
“In our everyday life let us endeavor to carry on those traditions established in past wars and conflicts at such tragic cost. We think of every man, woman and child who, in those crucial years, died so that the lights of freedom and humanity might continue to shine,” Cr Dal Broi said in his address.
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The wall memorialises the sacrifices of three local heroes:
- John Jackson VC - WW1. John was born at Ganbar. He enlisted at 17 years and fought at Hill 60. PTE Jackson was awarded a VC for conspicuous bravery on the battle field near Armentieres, France. He is Australia’s youngest VC recipient.
- Fred Kubank – WWII. Fred was born and brought up in Griffith, Stan in Lake Cargelligo. The memorial captures him with Stan Hutton of the 2/13 Infantry Battalion. They are pictured as they go through a wire on a small patrol at Post R27 in the Red Line on 8 Sept 2941, Tobruk, Libya.
- Lyndon Waring – Malaya/Vietnam. Lyndon was born and grew up in Griffith. He was awarded the Military Medal for his gallantry in Vietnam during operation ‘crimp’ in Jan 1966.
The service dedicating the memorial wall was addressed by Andrew Condon CSC, who was raised on his grandfather’s WWI soldier settler farm near Griffith and is passionate about supporting the Griffith region, and had a 27 year career in the Australian Regular army.
The official dedication was performed by Chaplain of the Griffith RSL Branch Father Rob Harris, and students from St Patricks Primary School read the poem ‘A brown slouch hat’ and also sang ‘Advance Australia Fair’ to complete the ceremony.