Embarking on a pilgrimage of remembrance

The medal that started a journey 

Kalbar RSL Sub Branch member Tony Young descends from a military family whose service history stretches back hundreds of years. Following in their footsteps, Tony served in the Army for nearly two years and has also been a member of RSL Queensland for more than 45 years.  

Having settled in Kalbar, he now fills his days by tending to his farm and researching the lives of Australian diggers. Unbeknownst to him, his research would lead him all the way to Europe. 

“Several years ago, a World War I (WWI) Military Cross was found. It turned out to be a Fromelles Military Cross. The fellow who found it spent some effort trying to reunite this medal with the family, but he had no success,” Tony explains. 

Kalbar RSL Sub Branch member Tony Young salutes during a ceremony at the Pheasant Wood Military Cemetery in Fromelles, France on 19 July 2025.

“For more than 30 years, I’ve researched and written service biographies for diggers, so this chap eventually handed the medal to me to see what I could do. I endeavoured to trace down the family and eventually I did. 

“I got the medal returned and was invited to Sydney for the Fromelles commemoration. The family member I was handing the medal to was the main speaker and turned out to be General Sir Peter Cosgrove.” 

As Tony shared this story with his fellow Sub Branch members, they suggested he attend the 2024 Fromelles commemoration in Ipswich. While driving home from this ceremony, Tony hatched a plan with fellow RSL member Stephen Pace to take their next Fromelles commemoration to the battlefields themselves. 

The book that formed the itinerary

As Tony and Stephen set about planning a remembrance trip, Kalbar RSL Sub Branch was busy publishing The Kalbar District Roll of Honour – a book they’d commissioned to memorialise the servicemen from their region who had served and sacrificed in both world wars. Details of each digger’s death, burial and memorialisation site were a key feature of the book. 

“Our trip planning kicked into gear after the launch of that book. I suggested to Steve that in France we make a point of visiting every Kalbar man buried in France or Belgium, or at least where their names are memorialised. That was quickly adopted into the itinerary,” Tony recalls. 

“The Kalbar district is primarily a rural area, so families would not have had the financial wherewithal to travel to France or Belgium to visit the graves back in the 1920s. There would be quite a number of men who have never had a visitor, so we also laid poppies at their gravesites or on their memorial walls. 

“However, during my research I also found it wasn’t only Australia that got hugely traumatised by the losses of war. France lost 1.5 million men, so I said to Steve that I think it’s only right and proper that we also pay our respects at France’s premier WWI memorial site.” 

While the three-week trip was going to be action-packed with these plans alone, Tony and Steve didn’t stop there.

Kalbar RSL Sub Branch member Stephen Pace lays poppies at the AIF First Division Memorial at Poziers, France.

The coins that were presented in France

As trip planning was in full swing, Tony and Steve met with Paul Rogers, President of RSL Moreton District, to share their plans and their desire to acknowledge the French contribution to Australian military history.

“I discovered that there were a number of French citizens who had done outstanding work to ensure that the memory of Australia’s contribution and sacrifice during WWI was never forgotten. However, they’re quiet achievers; they do all this stuff but don’t get a lot of recognition for it,” Tony explains.

Tony and Steve presented a number of RSL Queensland Coins of Appreciation to French citizens who had done outstanding work to ensure that the memory of Australia’s contribution and sacrifice during WWI was never forgotten.

“As a direct consequence, Mr Rogers delegated us to formally present a number of RSL Queensland Coins of Appreciation on his behalf. There were three coins presented to people at the Fromelles Museum, two coins at the Franco-Australian Museum in Villers-Bretonneux, and four coins to the ANSA Museum in Beamont-Le-Roger.”

Tony and Steve were able to present all but one coin at ceremonial proceedings in France. Their efforts earned them a reserved seating invitation from the President of France to the Bastille Day Parade in Paris. 

The lessons taken away from the trip

Looking back on this journey of a lifetime, Tony is humbled by what he saw and experienced. As expected, the trip turned out to be life-changing. 

“The sheer number of military cemeteries from WWI – it seems you can’t drive more than 5km and you come across one. That left a sobering impression upon me,” Tony says.

"A highlight for me was attending the Fromelles commemoration. I walked through the graveyard and looked at each of the headstones. I was given the honour of reciting the Ode of Remembrance at VC Corner, and that will go down as a highlight of my life. 

Kalbar RSL Sub Branch member Stephen Pace lays poppies at the headstone of Kalbar man Corporal Andrew Curry McBride, who is bured at the Heilly Station Cemetery near Mericourt-l'Abbe, France. Andrew was a member of the 42nd Australian Infantry Battalion and killed in action on 5 April 1918.

“I think it’s important that we acknowledge and remember the sacrifices that were made – not just in WWI, but in all conflicts – because they have paid in blood for the lifestyle we live today. 

“If we forget the sacrifices or the lessons that we learned, we’re bound to repeat them.”