For those of us who can remember and attended parades in the 1980s and 1990s the streets were filled with veterans from the Second World War.

Occasionally a WW 1 veteran may be spotted usually being transported in a vehicle and looking quiet frail.

Back then was the era of the 1939-45 returned soldiers. Marching proudly with their comrades,suit and ribbons worn but once a year,but worn with straight backs and keen steps.

It was a spectacle to see. 

In our state’s capital George Street was their domain on April 25^th each year as they marched towards Hyde Park. Row after row division after division.

We cheered them on the survivors of Changi and the Burma railway, the pilots from the Battle of Britain, the Rats of Tobruk and those who conquered the Kokoda Track, the nurses the mechanics the signallers,those that lied about their age to serve – what a great mob of Aussies.

Men and women who sacrificed so much – years away from home and family. Like the diggers from WW 1,  some who spent four years in the trenches of France, with only letters and photographs from home to remind them of the life they had left behind.

Sadly for those WW 2 veterans it is now they who are seen occasionally and riding in a vehicle as the youngest among them is close to 90 years of age.

It is a changing of the guard as parades are now dominated by our Vietnam vets and the ‘youngsters’ who served in Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Where we once thought the day may fade in our national importance especially during the 1970s in fact  Anzac Day has actually grown in our national consciousness.

People not only attend services at home but they travel abroad to Gallipoli and to the French battlefields to mark their respects. 

Perhaps with the changing of the guard we can take time to reflect on the day and what it means to all of us.

To remember that national and international disputes can lead to terrible outcomes if and when violence is seen as the only way to attain a resolution.

We still have military personnel currently serving overseas in dangerous situations playing their part in conflict resolution.

Peace can never be taken for granted that is what we should remember on April 25.