DOZENS of Millicent and district families marked Anzac Day on Saturday with private ceremonies to honour wartime service and sacrifice.
With the COVID-19 pandemic protocols banning the traditional large public gatherings at dawn, the RSL (RSL) encouraged community members to Light Up the Dawn to remember and pay respects from home.
Among those to embrace the concept were Peter and Kathy Gandolfi, who staged a small private ceremony at their Millicent home with friends Helen and Bill Davis.
With light breaking over the distant Mount Burr range, they flew the Australian flag, recited the Ode of Remembrance, played the Last Post from recorded music, observed a minute’s silence and then sang Advance Australia Fair.
Ms Gandolfi said her husband had erected a flag pole when it became clear Millicent’s traditional Anzac Day dawn and mid-morning services would not be possible due to the COVID-19 situation.
“We thought it was important to pay our tribute in any way we could and ensure the intent of ‘Lest We Forget’ survived despite the COVID-19 restrictions,” she said.
“Like many people in our community, we all have a connection to servicemen from past conflicts and it is hard not to be moved by The Last Post wherever it is played.
“It is a time to think about the lives lost and the futures destroyed by the horrors of war, but also to be grateful for the freedoms and privileges that sacrifice gave us all – and to hope that somehow our future can be different to the history of mankind which is filled with wars.”
During his eight years as Wattle Range mayor, Mr Gandolfi would talk about a fallen local soldier at ceremonies at the Millicent Cross of Sacrifice each Anzac Day and Remembrance Day.
His successor Des Noll has continued this tradition, but his address took a different format in 2020 due to the absence of a public ceremony.
Mr Noll posted a five-minute video to social media in which he honoured the life of Hatherleigh soldier Private Victor Bowman.
He was killed in action in 1917 at the age of 23.
