‘I’ll carry this’: Thousands commemorate quiet sacrifice of servicepeople

Thousands have gathered to remember the sacrifice of men, women and their families at the Geelong RSL Eastern Beach dawn service.

An estimated 9,000 people filled the hillside on Saturday for the 6am service, where speakers reflected on those who served and the lasting impact carried by those around them.

Guest speaker Sub Lieutenant Maddison Cheevers spoke of the ongoing trauma experienced by veterans and their loved ones.

Cheevers shared the story of Vivian Bullwinkel, a second world war Australian Army nurse.

Bullwinkel, the sole nurse survivor of the Bangka Island Massacre, survived three years as a prisoner of war, and was then told not to speak of her experiences upon her return to Australia.

In 1946, she shared her story at the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal.

“That took courage. A different kind of courage,” Cheevers said.

“Vivian Bullwinkle went on to become a leader in Australian nursing and a tireless advocate for veterans. She never stopped serving.

“What she carried, largely in silence for most of her life, is one of the most profound examples of what service has asked of those who answered the call.”

Cheevers continued, speaking to the stories that are not written in history books – the ones that aren’t in official records or even in the letters still held onto by families and histories.

She asked the crowd to consider the conditions in which these letters were written – physically and emotionally – and the courage hidden behind was not shared.

“They write about the weather, about food, about small routines and familiar things,” Cheevers said.

“They tell the people at home that they are fine, that there is nothing to worry about, that they are managing. And sometimes it was true, but often it wasn’t.

“What sits behind those words, what was left out, deliberately, carefully, tells us something profound.

“These men and women understood something about the people they loved; they understood that whatever they wrote, whoever would read it, would carry it.

“So, they made a choice. Not out of weakness, not out of denial, but out of care. A quiet, deliberate act of protection.

“I’ll carry this so that you do not have to.”

Cheevers message was one carried throughout the service by master of ceremonies Andrew Smitten and deputy prime minister Richard Marles.

Both men honoured the work and efforts of servicepeople from early battles in the first world war to the experiences of the modern veteran.

Marles spoke to the proximity most Australian’s have to veterans and the temptation to remember world war veterans as people from a different time.

“Almost the entirety of Australia’s military history and all the sacrifice that is within it is separated but by a single generation,” Marles said.

“For so many of us we can say ‘I knew someone who was there’ and when we appreciate that those events are much closer than we realise, that we have much more in common with those people than we think, their sacrifice is all the more poignant.”

Greg Walters read The Ode, with piper John Jordan and buglar John Collinson playing the Piper’s Lament and Last Post, respectively.

Reverend Andrew Constance read the Lord’s Prayer.

The Eastern Beach dawn service was one of five services held by the Geelong RSL, with additional services in Norlane and Lara.