Cobar residents gathered at Drummond Park for Remembrance Day on Friday to commemorate and remember all those who lost their lives as a result of war.
RSL Sub Branch Cobar president Ben Hewlett led the local service and welcomed the special guests, four servicemen from the HMAS Rankin submarine.
Mr Hewlett said November 11, 2016 marked the middle of the 100th anniversary of World War I which claimed the lives of 60,000 Australian service men and women while 156,000 were wounded, gassed, or taken prisoner.
He said while Remembrance Day initially began as a tribute to WWI, after WWII, it became a day to remember all those who have sacrificed their lives to conflicts and wars.
He recounted the story of the Battle of Long Tan on August 18, 1966, as one of the fiercest battles fought by Australian soldiers in the Vietnam War.
“The Battle of Long Tan is a very significant battle in history and one of the most amazing battles Australians have fought because they were outnumbered.
“The war in Vietnam was completely controversial. The way they brought our men home in the dark of night on a ship to Brisbane was disgusting,” Mr Hewlett said.
Lieutenant Cameron Eadie, Maritime Warfare Office with the HMAS Rankin spoke about how Armistice Day (later renamed Remembrance Day) came about in 1919, 12 months after the guns on the Western Front fell silent after four years of war.
“The 11th of the 11th was always associated with solemn pride, and a recognition of irreparable loss,” Lieutenant Eadie said.
“Here, and in New Zealand, we pay our respects principally on ANZAC Day but we also continue the tradition of Remembrance Day.
“Remembrance Day of the fallen and the symbol of the poppy has been steadily extended to embrace those men and women lost since 1945, in the snows of Korea, the jungles and paddy fields of South East Asia, the sands of the Middle East and now the barren rocks of Afghanistan.”
Lieutenant Eadie said it is has been our task, and will be the task of the next generation, to respect our service men and women in life and to cherish their memories when they are gone.
