A RECORD crowd came out in brilliant sunshine on Saturday to salute the Anzacs.
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From the youngest pre-schooler to oldest veteran, everyone marching along Queen Street and those watching felt the significance of the day and how 100 years after the Gallipoli landings the event still resonates so strongly in our community.
Lining Queen Street this year were soldiers from the Singleton School of Infantry and, to mark the centenary commemorations, several hundred soldiers led by their commandant Lieutenant Colonel Scott Morris took part in the march.
The biggest cheer on the day was reserved for our returned servicemen and woman who strode out, many attired in their best suits which for some were made slightly lopsided due to the weight of their medals.
For the younger members of that auspicious group they were accompanied by their children who simply enjoyed the day because they were able to skip down the road – an activity banned every other day of the year.
In 2015, the service at the Civic Green had a new centrepiece – the eternal flame mounted on a sandstone plinth.
The catafalque party stood on guard as the crowd gathered on the lawn while, in the background, there were the long lines of the soldiers.
Another special part of the service this year was the laying of 100 poppies by local school children with each poppy forming part of the word Anzac.
Singleton RSL Sub-Branch president Mick McCrone paid tribute to the Anzacs who banded together and fought with spontaneity, were fearless and with an almost instinctive tenacity and grit.
“This Anzac spirit may have first been seen at Gallipoli but it now resides in all Australians,” he said.
“Since that day in 1915, each generation of Australians has had cause to step up for service in conflict, peacekeeping, community rebuilding, and nation-making missions.”
Mr McCrone called on those present, who he described as being born Anzacs, to remain custodians of that special spirit and to take good care of it for the future.