Schoolchildren help Tailem Bend remember on Anzac Day 2023

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Schoolchildren have helped commemorate fallen servicemen at Tailem Bend’s 2023 Anzac Day service.

Students from primary school up the road formed a guard of honour around the town’s war memorial during a dawn service on Tuesday, each bearing a candle and images of locals who made the ultimate sacrifice during World War I.

Student leaders Bastion and Ella read each name in turn.

Yet the day was about more than just honouring the dead, RSL president Chris Taylor said.

“We want to honour ... all who have served, loved and supported our servicemen and women, and the generations who live on to ensure their spirit and sacrifices continue on in heart, kindness and daily action,” he said.

“We have our past, present and future in our hearts today.”

Let it not be said that any veteran was lucky to have survived an armed conflict, he said.

The word explained the “sheer randomness and utter injustice” of war, but was not a fit way to distinguish between those who had died and those who had come home again.

“They were and are all heroes,” he said.

“Their sacrifices are our freedom to live in peace.

“It is us who are lucky.”

Songs by Redgum and John Williamson played as about 250 people gathered in the darkness on Railway Terrace ahead of the service.

Wreaths were laid, prayers given, the Last Post played and the national anthem sung.

Another highlight was a reading of Joshua Helterbran’s poem The Final Inspection by veteran Daniel White:

Step forward now, you soldier,
You’ve borne your burdens well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven’s streets,
You’ve done your time in Hell.

Afterwards, dozens headed on to the newly refurbished RSL for a bacon and egg breakfast and, in many cases, a nip of rum.

• Watch a replay of the Anzac Day dawn service: www.facebook.com/newsmurraybridge.