Students pay respects at Inverloch

STUDENTS from Inverloch-Kongwak Primary School joined Inverloch RSL members at the Inverloch cemetery on Friday to pay their respects to veterans.
The children placed white crosses at the graves of veterans and ex-servicemen and women.
Grade 6 school house captains attended with teacher Nigel Kilpatrick, who gave them the responsibility as part of their studies of Anzac Day.
“Our school captains will also be taking part in the Anzac Day service on Wednesday, speaking on behalf of our students, and our music students aged six to 10 years will be singing as part of a choir,” Mr Kilpatrick said.
The school will also plant a Gallipoli oak near the entrance of the school in respect of those who served in Australia’s armed forces.
Lindsay Guerin, a new member of Inverloch RSL is ex-RAAF. He has volunteered his time speaking with students about his experience.
Mr Guerin has completed four deployments since 2004, his first being in the country of Qatar. Each deployment ran from one to five months.
Mr Guerin joined the RAAF in 1985 at the age of 35.
“My father was in the air force, which gave me an underlying interest to join,” he said.
Mr Guerin now helps his fellow members of the RSL and RAAF.
He told the students, “Being a part of any service for your country is a good experience and to remember that over 300,000 people have deployed in a variety of operations to service our country”.
Jan Millington, a member of the Inverloch RSL, has worked with Mr Guerin and other RSL members as well as the District Lions Club and Inverloch Surf Lifesaving Club, to organise Inverloch’s Anzac Day events.
A dawn service will start at 6am followed by a 10am commemoration service at the Inverloch Community Hub in A’Beckett Street with a U3A choir and guest speaker from Newhaven College.
Veterans and ex-service men and women are welcomed to march with a brass band and a piper. The service will conclude with the laying of the wreath, where a Navy veteran will sound the bugle, the flag will be raised, and everyone invited to sing the Australian and New Zealand national anthems.
This event is open to the public as a legacy to those who lost their lives and those whom are still serving.
Anzac badges are being sold until today (Tuesday) in the arcade near the newsagency.

Remembering war veterans: from left, Inverloch-Kongwak Primary School Grade 6 students Amity McInnes, Jaz Williams, Chloe Butcher, Marli Box, Harry Butcher, Charlie Deery, Riley Matthews and Hamish Gillespie with ex-RAAF Lindsay Guerin (left) and teacher Nigel Kilpatrick at the Inverloch cemetery on Friday.

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Posted by Tayla Kershaw on Apr 24 2018. Filed under Community. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry