By Callum Ludwig
Warburton residents flocked to Warburton Bakery to participate in or follow the annual Anzac Day march down the Highway.
Cadets lead the march, followed by Warburton RSL sub-branch members, Warburton and Millwarra Primary School staff and students and local emergency services volunteers.
Lieutenant Peter Dalglish was a speaker at the service following the march and said the commemoration of April 25 and the landing at Gallipoli in 1915 is important to remember.
“By remembering the events, hopefully, we don’t repeat the heartache and misery of war, we are destined to repeat the mistakes if we don’t remember history,” he said.
“It’s very important for us to share this with the greater community and even is for emergency services and for those who have served or are still serving in peacekeeping activities around the world.”
President of the Warburton RSL sub-branch Lindsay Fisher was unable to be the MC for the service held at the Warburton Cenotaph due to illness, so it was Navy veteran and Warburton RSL past president, Wayne Morgan who led the service. Ray McDonald led everyone in prayer.
Chief Dean Blanchard said for him, Anzac Day is about pride.
“My grandfather and great grandfather, they both served in World War One and World War Two and I’ve served for over 30 years now,” he said.
“I’m proud of what’s come before me and I want to keep doing them proud and remembering what they had given up.”
Guest Speaker Amarli Weir told attendees the story of a World War Two nurse Lieutenant Colonel Vivian Bullwinkel, the sole survivor of the Bangka Island massacre in 1942 where Japanese forces killed unarmed Australian nurses and wounded allies soldiers after marching them into the sea.
According to the Australian War Memorial, Vivian Bullwinkel escaped death by pretending to be dead in the sea until they left before later being taken into captivity for three and a half years and surviving the war and later receiving the Florence Nightingale Medal, an MBE and the Order of Australia. She returned to Bangka Island in 1992, creating a shine to remember the nurses who did not survive.
