Qld veterans remember fallen mates

Almost 50 years ago, amid harsh jungle terrain and enemy fire, Vietnam veteran Bob Secrett made a promise to a mate.

If one of them were to die, the other would attend every Anzac Day service thereafter as an enduring gesture of mateship, remembrance and honour.

Just after daybreak on Wednesday at the Gaythorne RSL Memorial Service in Brisbane’s northwest, Mr Secrett kept his word. Just as he always has.

As the Last Post played and the crowd of hundreds stood with heads bowed in silence, Mr Secrett’s thoughts were with his old friend, Reg Hillier.

“Anzac Day means a lot to me,” he told AAP.

“I lost a friend – a very close mate of mine – in ’65.

“He was killed in action and my promise to him was I’d come to every Anzac Day.

“My thoughts are definitely with him today.”

Mr Secrett’s thoughts echoed those of thousands who stopped to reflect during the hundreds of services held across Queensland.

The rawest emotions were seen in Townsville in the state’s north, where three diggers who died in Afghanistan were remembered in their home city.

Brigadier Shane Caughey asked the crowd to remember the 12 diggers who have lost their lives in Afghanistan in the past 12 months.

“Three of these – Private Matthew Lambert, Lance Corporal Luke Gavin, Captain Bryce Duffy – were from our own Townsville community,” he said.

“Young men who last year may have well stood next to you at this gathering, or played a game of two-up with you, have made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation.”

The oldest marcher at the Ashgrove Anzac Commemoration Service in Brisbane’s west, 86-year-old Les Gordon, might have needed a taxi to participate, but told AAP it would not be his last march.

Mr Gordon, who served from 1944-46, said his father and five uncles were Anzacs who stormed the beaches of Gallipoli in 1915.

“It’s about keeping the tradition alive for them,” he said.

The Anzac message wasn’t lost on the youngest of those who attended the Anzac services.

Ten-year-old Hayley Pitt understood why she was woken at 2am (AEST) to travel to the Brisbane CBD to gather with thousands of others to pay her respects to the diggers.

“Because they died for our free country,” she told AAP as she stood in Brisbane’s Anzac Square waiting for the sun to rise and the bugles to sound.

Queensland Governor Penelope Wensley told those at the dawn service that the identities of Australia and New Zealand were forged on the beaches of Gallipoli in 1915.

“It was the defining moment in the life of a new nation, giving rise to something that has defined Australia and Australians, New Zealand and New Zealanders ever since,” she said.

“That unique, irrepressible, admirable set of qualities that together form the Anzac spirit.”

More than 10,000 people attended the dawn service at Elephant Rock on the Gold Coast’s Currumbin Beach where, in a unique ceremony, the ashes of nine ex-servicemen and one of their wives were scattered on the water from surfboats.

Terry Townsend, who has attended the service for nearly two decades, told AAP it was the first time his two-year-old son Jesse had attended.

“Mate, I had a tear on the way in here. It makes you proud to be Australian and proud that the people before us fought to save our country and our land,” he said as he carried his son on his shoulders.

“Now our young fellows have to take on the tradition and honour and respect what they’ve done for us; respect is a word a lot of young kids don’t know about these days.”

Premier Campbell Newman, a former army engineer, remembered the fallen at the Royal Australian Engineers dawn service at Brisbane’s Gallipoli Barracks.

He also attended the Gaythorne and Ashgrove services as well as the parade at King George Square in Brisbane’s CBD.

“As we pause today, we should also reflect on the fact that there are other Australians all over the world defending what we believe in, and helping other people find a better, safer life for the future,” he said in a statement.

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