Field of colour commemorates Remembrance Day 2021
Murray Bridge’s Sunshiners have been busy crafting a display at the soldiers' memorial hospital, while the RSL has held a service at Sturt Reserve.
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The war memorial hosts Murray Bridge’s Remembrance Day services these days, but a century of service and sacrifice will not be forgotten at the soldiers’ memorial hospital.
Volunteers from the Sunshiners, a group which makes life brighter for inpatients, have planted a field of handcrafted poppies near the hospital’s memorial gates for November 11.
About 700 were knitted or crocheted for the occasion.
“They’re easy,” said Iris Phillips, one of the poppy-makers.
“I did all the middles (for mine), then all the petals, like a factory.
“My fingers move fast.”
Sunshiner Pam Arbon said it was important to maintain a memorial tradition at the hospital, which was dedicated to returned servicemen and women upon its opening in 1923.
Memorial service marks 103 years since Armistice
Meanwhile, about 120 people have attended a Remembrance Day service at Sturt Reserve.
Wreaths were laid, the Ode of Remembrance read and the Last Post played at Murray Bridge’s war memorial, the venue for the annual service since its completion last year.
The presiding member of the hospital’s advisory council, Greg O’Brien, reminded those present that 417,000 Australian men had enlisted in World War I, and that more than 60,000 had died while on active service.
Thousands more had served in conflicts since.
“We gather here today to thank them for their service,” he said.
“We owe it to those who gave their lives, the families who mourn them, our generation and our nation’s future, to remember the extraordinary service and sacrifice given in the First World War and in the time since.
“We will truly remember them.”
