It may not have the full-scale regalia of a United States Remembrance Day service, but Longford provided a good example of the next best thing for one US Marine.
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Gunnery Sergeant Omar Green was one of a group of four US Marines, stationed in Japan but recently rotated to Darwin, to travel and attend the Longford Remembrance Day service on Sunday.
Gunnery Sergeant Green said he was impressed by the turn-out and the display of respect the Northern Midlands community showed at the service.
“The service was absolutely great...the RSL has done a fantastic job of showing us around,” he said.
“The sense of kinship and the bonds people have with their families who served, it brings everyone together.”
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Sergeant Green arrived with three other Marines on Thursday and has been participating in Armistice celebrations, with the culmination at the Longford service.
He said a highlight of the trip was definitely the chance to see Tasmanian devils, but Sergeant Green said he hoped to spend more time in Tasmania.
The Longford service was a melting pot of culture on Sunday, with residents joined by the US marines and some cadets, along with Tasmanian Governor Professor Kate Warner, the Queen’s representative in Tasmania, who laid the first wreath of the ceremony.
Northern Midlands RSL branch president Geoff Leitch has been coordinating the services at Longford since 2007 and was pleased with this year’s crowd.
“It’s the biggest that I believe Longford has ever seen, I’d estimate the crowd to be a conservative 1500.”
Stalwarts of the Longford community, Charlie Johnston and John Ayers of Longford have been coming to the Longford Anzac and Remembrance Day services for a combined 60 years.
Mr Johnston, wearing his dad’s medals and his own, said he believed it was important to continue to remember both current and ex-servicemen.
“And especially those who went to war and returned and continue to suffer,” he said.
He said while Remembrance Day didn’t usually have the same standing as Anzac Day it was just as important.
John Ayers has lived in the Longford area for 85 years and has been attending Anzac and Remembrance Day services for the past 50 years.
He has a National Service medal and one from the RSL, as well as an efficiency medal from the army, all of which he said was important to him.
The ceremony also featured a poem from Mr Leitch and performances from the Scotch Oakburn pipe band and the City of Launceston RSL band.
Food trucks were set up on the Village Green with music performed after the service, to encourage the community to continue to celebrate 100 years since the end of World War 1.
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