By Brendan Rees
More than 100 people gathered in Pearcedale to commemorate the service of Australian soldiers in all wars.
The annual ceremony was held at the cenotaph at the Pearcedale Public Hall on Saturday.
Pearcedale Primary School principal Simon Anderson said it was an honour for the Grade 6 students from Pearcedale Primary School to volunteer for the service.
He said some students represented RSL veterans from the local area by wearing their name badge, with one student presenting a detailed account of a veteran’s life, as well as students participating in the wreath-laying service.
“We feel that this experience will be a memorable and special opportunity for the students and most fitting as the children have experienced and visited the Australian War Memorial and completed a unit of work on ‘War’ earlier in the year.”
Organiser Maureen Smollen said it was a “really good day.”
“We had a really good program – we change it every year.”
She said it was “really lovely” for the students to represent a fallen soldier. “It was wonderful to see so many – we got in excess of 17 children there on the Saturday,” she said.
She said Remembrance Day was “very important” to her as her father was a prisoner of war for five years at Stalag 13.
Cr Geoff Ablett said it was fantastic to see so many students from Pearcedale Primary School with their teachers at the event.
“Anzac Day and Remembrance Day are the two most important occasions we have. The tradition will live on as the younger generations are learning about it and embracing it with absolute emotion,” he said.
