Charlotte Varcoe
PENOLA War Memorial Park was flooded with community members last week as many gathered to pay respects to past and present soldiers.
Close to 50 members of the broader community gathered at the park to lay wreaths at the foot of the memorial which commemorates those who have died in service or were killed in action across the various conflicts throughout history.
Children from Penola’s schools joined Nangwarry Primary School students to participate in the day’s event followed by the school choir performing the national anthem.
15 wreaths were laid in memory of fallen soldiers with Penola Coonawarra Returned Services League (RSL) president Peter De Garis stating he was thrilled with the overall turnout.
“A few years ago we were only able to get around 20 or 30 people to come to the event,” Mr De Garis said.
“We are also thrilled we were able to host the event to this extent once again which was fantastic alongside the great weather.”
However, the RSL celebrations did not end there, with the league’s centenary dinner expected for this Sunday.
Mr De Garis said the dinner was to be held in the Penola Coonawarra Memorial Hall with an expected 60 residents to attend.
“We believed it was appropriate that we have the dinner in the hall,” Mr De Garis said.
“The state vice president of the RSL is also coming down and the guest speaker is Major Matthew Brodie.”
He said the dinner would also consist of a number of traditional toasts and formalities from previous years.
“Many years ago there was a toast given at RSL dinners for World War I diggers but that died off,” Mr De Garis said.
“We are going to reinstate the toast and the last of our World War II veteran, Roen Lynn, will propose the toast for the old diggers.
“The response will be given by Brian Lynn as well with the dinner designed to reflect on the past.”
He said the original dinner was scheduled for a number of years ago, however due to Covid-19 difficulties, the league decided to host it this year.
“Instead of just letting the centenary celebrations go, we decided we should go ahead and do them while we can,” Mr De Garis said.
