Sounds of Anzac Day projected across River Murray for Wellington WWII veteran
Locals were not about to let a 96-year-old veteran face April 25 alone.
If Wellington's World War II veteran could not come to an Anzac Day service, locals were determined to bring the service to the veteran.
Progress association members Steve Morcom, Warwick Digby, Bob Radford and Bronwyn Ralph did just that on Saturday, April 25, mooring a boat on the eastern side of the River Murray and projecting the sound of the Ode of Remembrance, Last Post and Reveille across the water.
Listening out the front of his home on the other side was 96-year-old George Heath, a retired officer of the Royal Australian Air Force.
Mr Heath's service included a bombing run against a gun emplacement in a French village on the night before the D-Day invasion – June 6, 1944 – and surviving a crash landing in enemy territory.
In 2015 he was given France's highest award, the Legion of Honour, for his services to that nation during the war.
Mr Heath had consistently played a part in Wellington's Anzac Day commemorations since moving to the town 37 years ago.
It was the first Anzac Day he had faced since the death of his wife of 63 years, Beth, in December.
Anzac Day commemorations were similarly subdued elsewhere around the Murraylands, including in Murray Bridge, where eight men gathered for a private commemoration at the RSL clubrooms.
Their short service was recorded by Murray Bridge News and broadcast on Facebook.
Top photo: Wellington Progress Association. Bottom photo: Peri Strathearn.
