REMEMBER WHEN

THE family of Trooper David Ronald Pearce, killed in action in Afghanistan, paid tribute to a father, husband, brother, friend and dedicated soldier at a moving Anzac Day service.

His widow, Nicole, and daughters Stephanie, 12, and Hannah, 6, joined up to 1000 people from the Upper Coomera-Oxenford community at the QCLA Hall in an emotional service dedicated to the memory of a fallen hero.

In the pre-dawn chill, his widow and two daughters, who wore their father’s medals, laid a wreath in his memory at the war memorial.

Trooper Pearce – a member of the Brisbane-based 2nd/14th Light Horse Regiment – was killed by a roadside bomb while driving a light armoured vehicle in Afghanistan’s Oruzgan Province on October 8, 2007.

He was the second Australian soldier to be killed in action during the current Australian deployment to Afghanistan and Iraq.

Mrs Pearce said her two girls would also participate in an Anzac Day march later that morning.

“It’s only been six months and I still feel like he’s going to come home. But today’s not just about us.”

Mrs Pearce, supported by Michael Cunningham and Jasmin Lomas, was moved by the solemn service as subbranch RSL president Norm Kelly presented a plaque dedicated to her husband.

“The risk that these young men and women take was brought to reality last year when Trooper David Pearce, one of our own community members, a husband and father, was killed in action,” said Mr Kelly.