1. 2009 Brisbane ANZAC Day March
The Parade Committee has a new Executive led by Chairman John Strachan who is setting the Committee and the March on a professional basis. Army will lead the 2009 March. The Committee has asked family members marching to be well-dressed in clothing suited to a solemn March. The Committee does not support very young children taking part in the March. The Committee meets next on 18 November at 7pm.

2. PNGVR Assn
PNGVR representatives attended the Kokoda Day Commemoration at Sherwood/Indooroopilly RSL Sub-Branch in August. The PNG Consul General encouraged the PNGVR and our Assn to work together on projects of mutual interest. Since then, I have offered to work with PNGVR to commemorate PNG Remembrance Day in Brisbane.

3. Recent Books
1942: Australia’s Greatest Peril by Bob Wurth of Currimundi, Qld.
Bob writes at length about how the Japanese Army blocked the Japanese Navy from adopting its strongly-pressed proposals to invade Australia. Bob argues that the threat of invasion was both startlingly real and imminent in early 1942.

Invading Australia by Peter Stanley.
Peter is an historian who examines and then discounts the evidence that underpins the invasion story of World War 2.

4. Passing of Major Jim Cruickshank
I was advised by member Dick Battersby of the passing of Jim Cruickshank who lived at Everton Park, Brisbane. Jim’s funeral was held in early September and several diggers attended. Jim was a WO Class 2 in D Coy, 1 PIR from 1955-57. He returned as CSM of Admin Coy late in 1962 until 1964. Jim was promoted to WO 1 and RSM of 2 PIR from 1965 to late 1966. Our condolences to his family and a sad loss for our Association.

5. Contributions Welcome
I welcome contributions from readers to this Newsletter. Stories about the past, recent events, or news about members are of interest. My thanks to Ian Ogston (Assistant Secretary) for the first photo below.
The Photo shows some Assn members marching (in step, of course) on ANZAC Day 2008 in Brisbane (left to right: Sgts Kev Horton, Terry Edwinsmith & Ian Ogston, Major Don Graham(Vice President) and ugly Sec/Treasurer). My thanks to Frank Wust (President) for the second photo with some of the same culprits except that Frank himself now appears wearing a slouch hat.

6. Brisbane Representative
Our Assn still has a Vacancy for Brisbane Representative. If you are not working full-time and could represent the Association at Brisbane functions, please offer your help by contacting Greg Ivey(Ph 5476 6971)

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In early November 1918, three representatives of the German government accepted the surrender terms presented to them at Compiegne, France by an Allied Commander of the French Army. The Allies ordered that hostilities cease at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. As gun fire ceased on the Western front in France and Belgium, four years of the bloodiest war the world had ever seen came to an end. During the Great War, more than 60,000 Australians died and an additional 156,000 Australians were wounded or taken as prisoners.

In Australia and other Allied countries, including New Zealand, Canada and the United States, 11 November became known as Armistice Day. After World War II, the Australian and British Governments declared that Armistice Day should be renamed Remembrance Day to commemorate those who were killed in both World Wars.

When Lt.-Colonel John McCrae (1872-1918) from the Canadian Army saw the red poppies growing across the devastated countryside in the spring of 1915, he wrote a poem called “In Flanders Fields”. Among the many people moved by McCrae’s poem was Moina Mitchell (1869-1944) who penned a response titled “We Shall Keep the Faith”. Mitchell worked tirelessly to get the poppy adopted as a national symbol of remembrance. She succeeded in September 1920 when the American Legion adopted the Poppy as such at its annual convention.

In 1921, a group of widows of French ex-servicemen called on the British Commander-in-Chief, Earl Haig, at the British Legion Headquarters. They brought with them from France some poppies they had made, and suggested that they might be sold to raise money to aid incapacitated returned soldiers. The poppies were sold in the streets of London on Armistice Day in 1921. This was an immediate success and the practice has continued to this day.

Sources
Australian War Memorial
RSL
Australian Geographic