Lest we forget

At this solemn commemoration, falling as it does on the anniversary of the landing at Gallipoli, it’s natural to think back to the brave service men and women of days gone by.  

Each year, the roll call of our older veterans grows shorter. Our World War I veterans have long since passed into history, and we are now witnessing the passing of another era.  
 
But the list of all those who have served and sacrificed is long, and it continues to be written to the present day.  
 
It includes those who served in Korea and Borneo, Vietnam and Malay.  
 
Those who have represented Australia in the many peacekeeping missions of the past 70 years – in East Timor, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Somalia, Rwanda, and many other places.  
 
And those who have been deployed – and are still deployed – in the Middle East. 
 
Just as their forebears did on the battlefields of Gallipoli and the Western Front, and in the Pacific theatre, our contemporary veterans have faced the horrors of warfare so that we do not have to.  
 
And although most have returned home, some did not leave those horrors behind on the battlefield.  
 
So I ask you today to hold our service men and women of every generation in your thoughts. I ask you to remember the families who stand behind them. Let them know that Queenslanders stand shoulder to shoulder with them, as we have since those first Diggers returned home from foreign shores more than a century ago.  
 
Lest we forget.