United in Remembrance
Cadet CUO, Megan, honoured the brave servicemen and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom, remembering their courage, selflessness, and lasting impact.
Remembering is a powerful thing. We are here in this Principal’s Assembly today to commemorate the servicemen and women who have given their lives selflessly for Australia. Without their continual efforts throughout wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations, we wouldn’t be here. Today, we reflect on service, sacrifice, and courage.
Allow me to read the following excerpt from a letter written by an Allied soldier serving in Europe in 1945:
“… the gents that I speak of down here are usually known but to a few—and ask no publicity. There are some … who live down there in hell—just a few miles from here—and they stay there days, weeks, and months until they are killed. There are just a few. They teach men, feed them, protect them, and lead them sooner or later into the jaws of a hell that is the bloodiest, dirtiest, most vicious kind of murder that man, with all his machines, has been able to devise.
These men are loved with a kind of love that exists no place but on the battlefield—and it is never talked about. These gents go for days without sleep, give away their clothes, go without food, keep going when they are sick, perform miraculous feats when they are wounded, and take the suicidal details rather than ask someone else to do it. They are never afraid, they are never cold, they never complain, and they spend all of their time trying to think of ways to help their men—and to save them. I don't know if they are happy—but if it isn't selflessness, I never hope to see it.”
To remember is to keep the spirit of the soldiers, their strength, their courage, and their determination alive. Those who put others first never complained and were never afraid. It is our responsibility to remember the sacrifices that have been made to allow us to exist in such a privileged country. Many of us know someone who has served our country, a relative, an ancestor, a friend. Regardless of whether you know someone personally or not, we are all united in remembrance, especially for the unknown fallen. As a community, we ensure that they are not forgotten. Their names may remain unidentified, but we know their selflessness.
Let us remember that every soldier has a story, an impact, people that loved them, and people that they loved. Remembrance lasts beyond today, through how we reflect on their enduring resilience and bravery in our own lives, continuing to honour every sacrifice they have made.