A bunch of blokes who marched for their mates - Dad's March 01

Thank you I’m no photographer but yes that was a proud day.
That is my daughter [bjboo ] in the purple coat on the side [front] being waved to by her beloved grandpa how proud she is of him … How proud I am of him. I marched for him last year as he no longer can and then he resigned and I miss that march. I have been to the big one in Melbourne as an officer’s wife but this was the read deal for me … so much more important for the heart felt simplicity of it. Lest We Forget

Thank you so much Jesika I shall look up said song
Thank you for dropping in to see my pics and read my words :o)
Lest We Forget

Thank you for your comment and for dropping by to see my pics and read my words Keep Happy! :o)

Thanx Dawn not bad for an old wind on Kodak camera and my tongue held in the right position! lol
Whenever I think of my Dad I think of this parade and I think of the servicemen and I guess I say a small prayer of thanks to them
Thanks for peeking at my pics :o)

thank you Vabi this is the best way to remember and i always remember and say thanks whenever I think of my Dad … the times I was at the pre-dawn parades of the regiment I was married to was next to this in poignancy I’ve explained that in an addition to the story above … go read it :o)

Thank you for dropping by and peeking at my pics :o)

Thanks Kathryn for dropping by and peeking at my pics and reading my words. [I added a few more to the story above if you’d care to read more :o)]
Keep Happy … that’s what they fought for! :o)

It did to me also
Thank you for dropping by
Lest we forget!

Wow Jem You wrote a song that is now yused in schools? I am training to be a teacher and I am a singer I would love a copy to use and spread further!
Thank you so much for dropping by, I have not been to many parades since My father left this RSL and I miss them but somehow the pomp and pageantry of the city one looses some of the meaning. The last city one I went to there were a bunch of teenagers trying to toast marshmallows in the eternal flame while listening to their ipods! Yes I said something! lol I quietly asked them if they’d toast marshmallows when their grandfather was cremated and played their latest songs then or would they get angry if anyone tried to insult them and their grandfather’s memory in such a way. I didn’t give them a chance to reply and just told them of the boys aged 17 who dropped what they were doing and went to fight to keep their country safe from persecution. I then asked them would they be prepared to do the same? I then suggested that perhaps just for a few minutes they could just be quiet and think of the boys who died so that they were free to listen to ipods and toast marshmallows … they agreed by pocketing their ear pieces and really seriously contemplating the reality of that time nearly a hundred years before and how much they now have to lose and what they would give up if they had to go fight. One even swallowed back and dashed away tears.
This is why I was proud of my dad trying to do something to teach the children of today the price of their luxurious peace.

L E S T . W E . F O R G E T !!

[and no I am no photographer! This just happened to be a time that my Pray part worked :o)]

Take heart they’re not gone completely!
I happen to know of at least 50 young men who are showing signs of being the next wave of stalwart men of our future, two are proudly my sons. Keep an eye out for my elder red haired son Thomace Muldoon I’m sure he will be somebody special in the world scene, he already is in many Melbourne circles and everywhere he goes he is recognised by someone! and he is but 17 at the moment!
I see an awful lot of my father in him…
Thank you so much or dropping by and checking me out …. errr checking my words out!! :o)

Thanks Dave for coming to look :O)
It was pretty special to see them – my darling daughter bjboo is standing so proudly [in purple coat] watching her grandpa too!
Lest We EVER Forget!!

WOW! Dan thank you very much!
That is about the best comment anyone could give my work!
Thank you so very much :O)
Keep Happy :O)

Oh Byron thank you! :O)
Funny how at the time there was this complaint – “Bloody Yanks – over fed over paid and over here!” :O) but we are the ones to be grateful. When the Japanese became a threat and looked to be aiming for Australia, England would not release our troops from the European stage to come home and defend us!
Australia is Florida short of being the same size as the USA and at the time of WW2 only had 7 million national citizens! [probably twice that because the census didn’t count our indigenous until 1 9 6 9 ] split it into the demographics – 3.5 women, [for ease]out of the 3.5 men – 1 million old men 1 million young boys = 1.5 million old enough to fight. then of that 1 million there were a percentage in jail, a percentage in hospital, a percentage necessary to stay home and a percentage incapable of physical action [suffering mental or physical disabilities – blind, deaf, flat-footed, etc] Suddenly a million is broken down into hundreds of thousands … would 500,000 men protect the Canadian boarder? the east coast? the west coast? the southern coast? and the Mexican boarder? all of them all at the same time? and all our fighting men and their commanders were in Europe!
England said “If we lose Australia we can fight to recover it but if we lose England we lose the empire!”
All I can say is thank god you over fed over paid guys came over here!

But this march ANZAC is about the 1st world war when Australia only had 60,000 men of fighting age & don’t forget that is also 60,000 men of fatherhood age! We lost almost half an entire generation of men on the Somme! again cannon fodder for the English Generals! and in those days our men were lead by English Officers our Aussie officers ranked lower than an English Lieutenant AND the British kept no record of the names of our soldiers and where they were sent. It was AFTER the war that families pieced together the whereabouts of their loved ones from reports from the units billeting in the towns, from the returned men and from their own men returning. The battle of Gallipoli and the trenches of the fields of Flanders and the Somme etc are special to us because it is here that our men fought for our freedom – from the empire! that freedom became complete when our men were finally released from Europe to come over and fight the Pacific stage of the war [NB the British really didn’t come help us!] and we stopped loving the Empire Mother and started leaning towards our Yankee Big Brother!
Please read my Great Uncle Alfred’s Writings for how he gives an account of his time in the great war to end all wars. I am so proud of him! XX♥XX
Thank you for Reading my words :O)
Chookas! X♥X
Lest We Forget!

WOW! I am honoured! Thank you so much!
To have you send this out to friends is truely flattering thank you!
My father is now 80 but I doubt he will ever read this story, I doubt even my family will! But to have others read it and think it poignant is just soul blessing, thank you!
We really mustn’t forget just how easily power can get out of hand and war become our ruler and from that the sacrifices we must all make and the personal clarifications & understandings & values of how we want our lives to be!
Thank you so much for reading my words!
Keep happy as that’s why those men fought and others fight even now!
Chookas! X♥X
Lest We Forget

I love that song!
Yes the aristocracy had a few answers to make to an awful lot of people!
At least in WW2 they kept records of the soldiers, WW1 they were just sir names in battalion numbers. It was our ANZAC officers who had to identify the men who no one knew. That’s why our Tomb for the unknown soldier is so important for there were so many no one knew!
My father and his mates are Korean & Vietnam War Vets and their fathers were WW1 or 2 vets. I marched for my father 2 years ago in my scout leader uniform for he could not make the distance any more. and the year before my son & daughter in their scout & cub uniforms performed flag duty. This shot was the year before that.

Thank you so much for dropping by & meeting my father & myself!
Chookas! ♥

Thank you I am rather proud of this effort! Not being a photographer at all this was a time when I think my 3P system was actually heard – [Point Push Pray lol] But I am a writer foremost and i found that my great uncle was one also. I’ll put a link to his WW1 memoirs up on the side. [should have done that by now lol]
Thank you for dropping in to meet me & my Dad!
Chookas! ♥

Thank you … you mean there is hope for me yet? Coooool! lol ☺
I would have gotten closer to the guys marching but I wanted to get my daughter into the shot she was standing to attention so proudly to think her grandpa was leading the men!
I wish they could have more time together but His wife deters it! She has very effectively destroyed the relationship my father has with his own children and his own grandchildren while forcing him to play father & grandfather to hers. – I say this as a warning to anyone who finds themselves in a similar situation or knows of any one who does.
I miss him so much!! for myself and for my children!
Thank you for dropping by & seeing my dad and his blokes!
Chookas! ♥

Thank you so much Malcolm
Sadly already my father no longer marches but sits at home & watches the telecast on TV … it makes his wife happy … but I cry for him! But he rests knowing that he has done his best to help keep the memory of those who’ve gone before fresh in our minds! He was instrumental in orchestrating schools to adopt a bitallion or regiment and collate the history of the battles it was involved in and the men who belonged to it. Perhaps in this way once all the men have gone their legacy will live on!
Thank you for coming to meet my daughter her grandad and his men!
Lest we forget!

Thank you for the comment …. I didn’t even think of the road edge being poignant but now you draw my eye to it yes you could say it would be symbolic of the roughness of their path!
Thank you for that!
Chookas! ♥

And of my darling little Boo [the one in the purple coat standing to attention watching her darling Grandpa march by]
the following year she was a cub and assisted her brother [a scout] to raise and lower the flag during the ceremony
She is a Venturer now and marches in the city parade as a banner bearer!
I had seen many marches in my years and have been in some too but when I saw this one I burst into tears! It meant so much more than all the pomp and ceremony ones! They just “went for a walk for their mates”
His last march as Sassafras RSL President he could not walk it so I proudly donned my scout uniform and marched for him!
Thank you for coming to see my Dad’s march!
Lest We Forget!