Larger than usual crowds paused to remember the sacrifices of Australia’s soldiers at a Remembrance Day service in Werribee last week.
Werribee RSL sub-branch president Daryl Ryan said the number of people attending the service at the Werribee cenotaph reflected a growing trend.
“I can’t put my finger on what it is exactly that’s led people to show more interest, why so many people are actually leaving their homes or workplaces to remember at the service instead of observing a minute of silence from where they are,” Mr Ryan said.
“People are a lot more patriotic and technology has given them the ability to look into their ancestry to see what their great-grandparents went through to understand and appreciate war.”
Mr Ryan said it was important that everybody, regardless of where they come from, remembered soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice.
“There are a lot of no-name graves, soldiers just obliterated, not only in the First World War, but also the second, in Korea, Malaya, Borneo, wherever Aussie soldiers have been killed. Remember their service, which means we now have a flag to live under.
“Hundreds of thousands died for that.”
Mr Ryan thanked Wyndham residents for their support of the annual poppy appeal.