QLD:Thousands attend Brisbane Anzac Day march

AAP General News (Australia)
04-25-2011
QLD:Thousands attend Brisbane Anzac Day march

By Steve Gray and Jessica Marszalek

BRISBANE, April 25 AAP - A sombre Anzac Day dawn service in Brisbane has given way
to a joyous march through the streets of the CBD.

Thousands flanked the streets as service men and women marched, rode in jeeps, waved
to family in the crowd and saluted Queensland Governor Penelope Wensley at King George
Square as the procession wound its way through the city.

Newborns joined those in their 90s to watch the procession.

Three-week-old Rachael Barr, of the Brisbane suburb of Runcorn, was there with her
mother to watch father Shannon, a flag bearer for the Royal Australian Navy.

So too was nonagenarian Ted Abbott of Coorparoo, a veteran of the 57/60th Battalion
who served in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

On three occasions, Mr Abbott was rescued by the famed Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels of New Guinea,
suffering from scrub typhus and tropical ulcers.

"The Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels saved my life," Mr Abbott, dressed in his uniform and decorated
with medals, told AAP.

"I wish I could meet a couple today to say thanks.

"They're always in my memory."

It wouldn't be Anzac without New Zealand, and Warrant Officer Brian O'Connor and Major
Miles Macdonald, both on exchange with the Australian Defence Force, bore their national
flag proudly.

Gwen Lovett was one of hundreds of servicewomen to take part in the parade.

She and her "Amberley girls" - stewardess colleagues from the Womens Royal Australian
Airforce who were stationed west of Brisbane in the 1950s - rode in an open-topped jeep
past waving well-wishers.

"It means everything (to be part of the march)," Ms Lovett said.

"Women have got everything going for them now. It's so wonderful isn't it?"

Children and family also marched, remembering fathers, grandfathers and others who
have served the country.

Among them were 12 children representing Legacy, who received replica sets of their
fathers' service medals to wear for the march.

Rebecca Beckwith said she had allowed her son William, 8, to wear his late father's
medals when he'd marched in the past.

Ms Beckwith's Navy husband Peter was 29 when he died of a brain tumour in 2007 after
eight years of service as a gunner instructor.

She said having a set of medals for each of her children now meant the world.

"His grandfather fought in Gallipoli and he was quite passionate about it and for that
reason I'll always bring the kids," Ms Beckwith said.

"In previous years I've always let William wear the medals but now they have a set
of their own and it's something that'll be tucked away for them.

"... Their kids will be wearing them one day to march."

AAP jmm/jsh

KEYWORD: ANZAC MARCH QLD UPDATE (WITH PIX AND VIDEO)

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