CITY PAYS TRIBUTE TO FALLEN HEROES
THERE’S the war abroad and the war at home.
Army veteran Andy Cullen isn’t ashamed to admit he still fights the second war and wants other younger veterans to reach out for help after Anzac Day, something he says is difficult.
The 40-year-old Tallai resident spent more than 15 years serving the nation including three tours in Afghanistan and says April 25 brings up bittersweet memories of mates who made it home from one battlefield only to fall on another.
“The reality is we have lost hundreds of people to suicide since coming home due to post traumatic stress disorder. We lost 41 over there but have lost 3000 more since,” he said.
“The casualties are not stopping, it is a continuing thing and something we need to face as a community because many people suffer in silence.
“I have heard it described as soul wounds. I didn’t understand what was happening to me when I came home and PTSD is a bloody horrible thing to go through for the individual as well as the whole family but we need to address it.”
Mr Cullen was one of several speakers at yesterday’s packed dawn service at Currumbin’s Elephant Rock.
Crowds of up to 25,000 are understood to have attended the city’s biggest commemorative service, which began a few minutes before 5am.
This year’s ceremony was held in the 100th year since the end of World War I, something Currumbin RSL president Ron Workman said made it unique.
Mr Workman, a Vietnam veteran, said yesterday’s service was an emotional but powerful occasion.
“It is heartening to see the increasing numbers of young people attending these services and I believe it is a physical expression of what Anzac Day means to us all,” he said.
“Needless to say the spirit of Anzac is as relevant today as ever.”
The parade, led by veteran Katherine Callow, began at 4.40am and marched north from Currumbin Sanctuary before arriving at Elephant Rock, where the ceremony began at 4.58am.
During the ceremony the ashes of veterans who have recently died were scattered at sea off the rock by boat crews from multiple local surf life saving clubs.
The service finished shortly before 6am with a fly past of historic military aircraft including a tiger moth VHRVE flown by Captain Brendan Smith, a T-A Airtrainer VH-DMI flown by Philip Munro, a UH-1H Huey helicopter flow by Tim Latimer and a Bell-47 helicopter flown by Georgie Latminer.
Victoria Cross recipient Keith Payne, 84, said the dawn service was an emotional experience.
“Every year at this time I think about all of our soldiers who gave their lives,” he said.
“It is a very moving and meaningful time for a veteran because we don’t just remember those who fell for the nation but those mates we lost ourselves.”