Ex-Prisoners of War Service 2018
Our student Councillors and Prefects, the School Choir and School Band joined staff, invited guests and the Ex-Prisoners of War Association at our annual remembrance service in Kings Park.
Speakers included our School Chaplain, Andrew Paul, our Principal, Lesley Street and Arthur Leggett, President of the Ex-Prisoners of War Association.
India, a Year 10 student also spoke about her classes research on Arthur's career, and soldiers from the Australian Army stood a Catafalque Party around the memorial.
A number of wreaths were laid including those by the School, the Ex-POW Association, the War Widows Guild, the RSL, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and Simon Millman the MLA for Mount Lawley.
Today we have three distinct groups of people who join us, each coming for a different reason.
To the Ex-Prisoners of War. You come here to remember fallen comrades, and to remember a time of your life you probably have every right to want to forget.
Those experiences have defined you in many ways, and no doubt influenced the way you have approached the rest of your life since that time.
For some of you, these events happened over 70 years ago, yet we are sure they are fresh in your mind on days like today.
Your perspective has much to offer the youth of today, and we hope you are able to share it today.
To the Friends and Family Members. You may be here to honour someone who made the ultimate sacrifice as a prisoner of war. You may have welcomed them home, or grown up with these men and women in the years after their time in captivity.
You have loved and supported them, seen the good and the bad.
You come to stand by them and show your support, to honour them … and we welcome you.
And lastly to the Students of Mount Lawley Senior High School.
You are part of a long tradition of Mount Lawley Students who have had the privilege to join with our Ex-Prisoners of War, their friends and families, at such an emotional and important time.
Many years ago, our school made a commitment to these men and women, that each year we would return to tell their story and honour them.
We hope that you will respect this opportunity and hear their story.
They want you to hear it, and they are here to share.
Excerpt from the remarks by Andrew Paul, School Chaplain
