‘Don’t emulate my son’
Parents of man killed fighting for Kurds implore young Aussies to avoid war
THE parents of a Benowa man killed while fighting Islamic State in Syria are comparing their son to an Anzac but urged people not to follow in his footsteps.
Reece Harding left for the Middle East in May to fight with the Kurdish group Lions of Rojava.
The 23-year-old died on June 27 when he stood on a landmine.
Michele Harding said her son wanted to help the Kurd- ish people, and should not be confused with those fighting with ISIS.
“The Anzacs signed up to fight in the First World War; it wasn’t their war,” Mrs Harding said, referring to the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps who fought in Gallipoli and France.
“It wasn’t Australia’s war; it was Europe’s war but they still went over there.
“When I look at French Resistance fighters, their government went along with Germans and they persecuted their own Resistance fighters.
“But now we don’t look at them as terrorists, we look at them as heroes.”
Reece’s parents didn’t know their son was volunteering in the YPG’s sabotage unit which is the armed wing of the Democratic Union Party in Rojava, the Kurdish region of Syria.
He had told them he needed “a short break” without telling them where he was going.
Yesterday Mrs Harding had one message for young Australians thinking of joining the battle like her son did.
“Look kids, look at my face,” she said with tears running down her cheeks.
“You don’t want your mum looking like this or feeling like this. So don’t feel like you have to go, use your voice.
“If you want to do something, it starts off here.”
The Australian Kurdish community has vowed to support the family and promised to repatriate Reece’s body.
“Five people came to our house on Saturday, they just wanted to make everything easier for us and tell us he’d never be forgotten,” Mrs Harding said.
“I didn’t want my son to die but in a strange way it comforts me that he died this way helping others rather than in a meaningless car accident or something,” Mrs Harding said, adding that Reece was never an extremist.
Reece’s dad Keith said he was worried about young Australians still fighting overseas.
He said the Federal Government needed to recognise that Reece was fighting against ISIS and did not deserve to be treated like a criminal.
“This is where we need to help Ashley Dyball (an Australian fighting for YGP),” he said. “When he comes back he’ll be persecuted even though he’s fighting for a good cause.”