It was a beautiful sunny day for the 2024 Anzac Day march and when we arrived at the designated starting area we were greeted by the cadets from Hurlstone Agricultural High School who helped set up the Battalion banner.
As we were waiting in line to set off on the march, the roar of the jet engine overhead certainly got everyone revved up and ready to go.
There were 24 people in total who marched with us behind the 2/18th Battalion banner with Matthew Angus (grandson of Ted Colenso) and the cadets proudly holding it high.
Vivien Tang and Ryan Mackinder, staff members from Hurlstone, gave up their time during the school holidays to organise the cadets, along with some other family members.
A nice young man, Fenlan Miller, introduced himself to me as the great grandson of Col Edmonds, a truck driver from the 2/18th. Fen was down from Brisbane doing a stint as a journalist with Channel 7. He proudly marched along with us as well another new face, Rex Fitzgibbons, who was representing Francis Dwyer and Jack Beaver, both from the Battalion.
The King’s School Cadet Corps band was ahead of us and kept us in step to some well-known tunes such as “Colonel Bogey” and “Men of Harlech”. At the end of the march we walked back to Club York for our traditional ANZAC Day luncheon.
It was great to catch up with familiar friends and some new faces at the luncheon. We were sorry that committee member, Col Wright, was not able to attend this year, we certainly did miss him.
Robyn Simond organised a Facetime call to her son, and Vice President of the Association, Lachlan who is living in Washington DC. It was great to chat with him and at the time he was polishing his boots in readiness for the ANZAC Dawn Service in Washington. This service was organised by his wife Jamie, an Australian Air Force officer, working at the Australian Embassy.
As we were staying in Sydney for the weekend, the following day we visited the ANZAC Memorial in Hyde Park. The museum display was very enlightening and we recommend it to anyone who has not visited it before. As we were having lunch in the park, an international student came up to us and asked us to complete a survey about ANZAC Day and what it means to us. She was interested in what we had to say and learnt a lot more about the day and its relevance in Australian history.
By Liz Richard, daughter of Mervyn Blyth 2/18th Battalion AIF
218battalion.org.au 