The soldiers who fought to protect our country in World War I were remembered last Tuesday – the 11th day of the 11th month at the 11th hour.
Serpentine Jarrahdale RSL secretary Mark Keynes, who served in the army for 28 years, said each year he would see new community members who hadn’t previously attended a service before.
“You often find some older veterans will come because that’s very important to them,” he said.
“And some people will pick up the tradition of their own volition.
“You have to stand up and at least acknowledge these things.”
Darling Range MLA Hugh Jones addressed this years’ service at the Byford Anzac Memorial Park.
Mr Jones told the story of soldier Percival Pascoe and Percival’s family from Clair Hunter’s memorial article; I saw the look of shock in their eyes.
Percival was born in Boulder, Western Australia, on November 28, 1919 and he enlisted in the Navy at Fremantle on February 3, 1939.
In the middle of the World War II, Percival served as a stoker aboard the light cruiser HMAS Sydney.
German merchant raider Kormoran attacked the Royal Australian Navy Sydney off the WA coast in November 1941.
“I remember the moment we received the telegram advising that he (Percival) was missing in action,” Percival’s brother Baden said.
“We were apprehensive, as all were in those days, especially if (the telegram) arrived early in the evening.
“There must have been something about it – I can’t remember why now – but my mother and father were sitting out back in the garden, together with me, at about sunset, just after the evening meal, when the telegram arrived.
“I saw the look of shock in their eyes when they read it.
“It gets me now, just talking about it.
“Then they explained it to me, but I didn’t really process it very well at my age.
“It didn’t really hit me hard until I grew older and I learned a bit more about it.
“I knew he was in the Navy, and he was on the Sydney, and of course, when we got the telegram, that’s when I started to realise what was going on.”
Photographs – Richard Polden.
