Address for the MHS ANZAC Service. April 23, 2018 MAJGEN Professor Jeffrey V Rosenfeld AC, OBE, KStJ

Transcription

1 Address for the MHS ANZAC Service. April 23, 2018 MAJGEN Professor Jeffrey V Rosenfeld AC, OBE, KStJ Thank you Principal Ludowyke for the honour of speaking to the students and staff at the MHS ANZAC Assembly. I could never have imagined when I was sitting where you are now in 1967 to 1970, that later in life I would be up on stage addressing you wearing the uniform of a Major General of the Australian Army. I know some of you are thinking that Anzac Day is of no importance. You re thinking let s get back to class and get on with our lessons. I mean to change your thinking with my address today. Imagine if you and your family were innocent victims of war in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, or Congo. Put yourself in the place of one of the thousands of refugees from Africa who make the perilous journey by sea to Europe to escape poverty, persecution or civil war. Australians including you and your families enjoy freedom, democracy and the rule of law and I am sure we all believe our way of life is worth protecting. Our way of life has been hard won by our soldiers, sailors and airmen. More than 102,000 Australians have made the supreme sacrifice during wars that Australia has fought. Wearing the Australian uniform is the highest calling of a citizen and means that individual is ultimately willing to lay down his or her life to serve Australia and preserve our way of life. We are not here to celebrate war. On the contrary, we are here to remember the courage and sacrifice of those Australians and our allies who fought to preserve our freedom and democracy and were injured or indeed paid the ultimate sacrifice with their lives. Unfortunately, wars will continue to be fought but war is ghastly and should be resisted for as long as possible. General Sir John Monash arguably our greatest battle commander, wrote to his wife Vic in March 1917: I hate the business of war and soldiering with a loathing that I cannot describe the awful horror of it, the waste, the destruction and the inefficiency. My only consolation has been the sense of faithfully doing my duty to my country. 1

2 In 2015 we commemorated the centenary of the commencement of the Gallipoli Campaign. Australia s values and beliefs include mateship, loyalty, fairness, courage in the face of adversity, and service to the nation. These values were forged at Gallipoli and on the other battlefields of WWI. The Battle of Fromelles commenced 19 July This was the first major action of the Australian Imperial Force on the Western Front. The Battle of Pozieres commenced on the 23 July The Australian First Division Captured a German strongpoint and the Division held their ground despite heavy bombardment. The Battle of the Somme took place between 1 July and 18 November It was one of the largest battles of the First World War, in which more than a million men were wounded or killed, making it one of the bloodiest battles in human history. The Australian troops fought their first battle in France at Fromelles on July 19th 1916, as a diversionary attack for the Franco-British offensive that had been launched on 1 July on the Somme. The Centenary of Polygon Wood and Paschendale was 26th September, 2017 and the Centenary of the Battle of Hamel is July 4 th The Battle of Amiens and the 100 Day Offensive commenced 8 th August 1918 and will be commemorated at the Shrine of Remembrance on Tuesday 08/08. November 11, 2018 will be the Centenary of WWI Armistice. MHS had one of the highest levels of active service in WW1 of any institution in Victoria with 660 of approx. 900 male graduates to 1917 seeking active service in WW1. To me as an Australian and a veteran, Anzac Day means remembering the courage and sacrifice of those who have gone before me and taking the responsibility of keeping the memories alive. I visited the beautifully kept allied war graves outside Yangon in Burma where it is written They died for all free men. The remains of Flying Officer P Macdonald 2

3 RAAF age 27 lies there amongst many others. Born to fly upwards inscribed on his gravestone. I think of the Australian soldiers in WW1 rising from the trenches, advancing on the enemy and being mowed down by machine gun fire. I think of stretcher bearers going out to no man s land in the dead of night to find the wounded on the battlefield, comfort them, and bring them back to safety and medical care. I think of the highly trained combat medics of today who initially treat our injured soldiers whilst under fire and unquestionably save lives. I think of the terribly injured soldiers I have operated on in Iraq during the and imagine them when they get back home and see their families. It is the greatest privilege for me to care for our soldiers and those of our allies. I think of the adults and children blown up by landmines in Rwanda on whom I had to perform amputations. I think of our many POW at Hellfire pass on the Burma Thai Railway and those 2,345 allied POW who died on the Sandakan death march in Borneo and try to imagine what they had to endure at the hands of their cruel and inhumane Japanese captors. I think of the amazing efforts of Sir Edward Weary Dunlop and his fellow doctors to look after the malnourished and sick POWs with virtually no equipment or supplies. Oct 16, 2018 is the 75 th Anniversary of Hellfire Pass and the Thai Burma Railway. I think of 21 of our wonderful nurses who were deliberately shot by the Japanese at Bangka Island in Indonesia on 16 February 1942 and Sr Vivien Bullwinkle who was also shot and was the sole survivor who later became Director of Nursing at Fairfield Hospital here in Melbourne. 3

4 I think of our brave pilots who flew so many missions over Germany in WW2 not knowing if they would ever come back. SqnLdr Keith William Bluey Truscott MHS old boy was ace fighter pilot fighting against the Japanese in WW2 I think of our many sailors who went down with their ships out at sea in torpedo and air attacks. We are all the custodians of this history and the precious memories. We have a heavy responsibility to those who served our nation to preserve this legacy and to commemorate it annually as we are now doing. They shall not grow old as we that are left grow old. Lest we forget. This remembrance of our history forged in battle will make us all stronger as a nation in order to resist the forces of tyranny, fascism and terrorism that continue to threaten our way of life and other democracies throughout the world. Many Australians are discovering our wartime history for the first time during this centenary commemorative period. I believe this recognition of our past forged in battle is vital for Australia s future. The ADF has been very busy operationally around the world for over two decades. Peacekeeping, Peace Making, Humanitarian Relief, The War on Terror, Border Protection. We currently have 1,704 ADF personnel deployed overseas. Most personnel are involved in the Middle East area of Operation. 41 of our soldiers made the ultimate sacrifice in the Afghanistan war and more than 200 Australian personnel were seriously wounded in Afghanistan. Australia s current military operations cover a vast area extending from the Horn of Africa, across the Middle East to Afghanistan. Our Headquarters for the entire Middle East Area of Operations is at Camp Baird at the Al Minhad Air Base outside Dubai, UAE. It was named after Corporal Cameron Baird VC, MG Died 22 June 2013 in Afghanistan. I have a deep appreciation of the sacrifice and courage of our ADF personnel having recently returned from a deployment with the ADF in Iraq on Operation OKRA where Australia is training and mentoring Iraqi Forces and was bombing 4

5 ISIS targets. Australians should be very proud of the achievements our men and women in uniform. They put themselves in harm s way so that we may enjoy living in freedom in our great country. I cannot speak too highly of their professionalism, courage and commitment which has followed one continuous line of succession since the ANZACS of Gallipoli. We wish them and all those deployed a successful mission and a safe return. I was deployed as a military neurosurgeon and was embedded in an American Combat Support Hospital near Baghdad treating injured soldiers from the Battle for Mosul where I also spent some time. I also had the privilege of serving with the ADF embedded in a US Airforce Hospital in Iraq in 2004/5 during the Battle for Fallujah. What about our future? Sadly, many countries today are still ruled by dictators or military juntas. Australia and its allies are currently at war with ISIS which is the most extreme example of a fascist dictatorship in the world today. We should never take for granted the defence of our nation. Let us remember what all Australian soldiers, sailors and airmen have sacrificed to allow Australia to grow in peace and prosperity as a vibrant multicultural democracy. Let us particularly remember those men and women who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in wars past. May they rest in peace. 5