A QUIET hush lay over the Anzac centenary crowd at Longford as they stood gathered in their own thoughts.
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The Last Post sounded for servicemen and servicewomen, as it had done every year for the last 100 years; for the fallen, the dead, the returned and the living.
More than 1000 children, teenagers, men and women honoured and remembered them.
Northern Midlands RSL sub-branch president Geoff Leitch in his opening speech said that the ceremony was not about the glory of war, nor was it about victory.
‘‘It is about the triumph of spirit,’’ he said.
‘‘This ceremony is about remembering ordinary decent Australians. People who did things extraordinary and unimaginable.’’
Dian Smith, who was one of three who led the Anzac parade through the streets of Longford, said it was a proud and emotional moment.
She marched for Victoria Cross recipient Walter Earnest Brown, her great uncle, and her father John Sidney Brennan who served during World War II.
She said Corporal Brown was awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery at Villers-Bretonneux on July 6, 1918.
‘‘The Germans were sniping at the Australians and he said ‘I’ve got to put a stop to this’ and grabbed a couple of grenades,’’ Mrs Smith said.
‘‘He went into the German trenches and one of the officers came at him but Uncle Walt felled him with his fist and said ‘surrender, I’ve got the grenade’.
‘‘Then out trots 12 German men and he herded them back to the Aussie lines with grenade in hand.’’
Royal Australian Airforce member Ron Clark, 93, said his time in the force was the best education he could ever have.
‘‘It is just one of those things that happened,’’ he said.
‘‘You can’t really explain in full words what today means to you.’’
EVANDALE
HEARTFELT messages written to the soldiers who never returned home were written on 48 wooden crosses displayed at the Evandale Anzac centenary service.
"Thank you for risking your life for ours," reads one.
"You have risked your lives to make a better place for us. Your spirits will be with us," reads another.
The messages were written by pupils from Evandale Primary School.
The crosses - one for every name written on the town's war memorial - will be sent to the Western Front war cemeteries in Belgium and France to sit on the unknown graves.
Centenary service master of ceremonies Laurie Wotherspoon said it was a fantastic ceremony attended by more than 500 people.