Commemorative booklet proudly presented by Michael McCormack MP Federal Member for Riverina ANZAC SPIRIT ENDURES RIVERINA communities are acutely aware of the enormous and selfless sacrifice made by so many who have served our nation so well in all wars. Each ANZAC Day we reflect on what has been done by those so brave, daring and valiant that we may now live free. Men and women who have taken on a role in defence have gallantly carried on the very proud ANZAC tradition so AWM MARKS CENTENARY courageously forged at Gallipoli. THE Australian War Everyone who enjoys the freedoms of Memorial in Canberra our society owes a huge debt of gratitude (pictured below) will to the Army, Air Force, Navy and AT AWM: With The Hon. Dr Brendan commemorate The Great medical personnel - heroes all - of not Nelson, Director of the Australian War War centenary with a major just yesteryear, but also those in uniform Memorial, the founder of which, Charles redevelopment of its First today. Bean, described in 1948: "Here is their World War galleries and a spirit, in the heart of the land they loved; variety of new public programs Many of those who went off to do their and here we guard the record which they and events. duty sadly never made it home. themselves made." Only 2½ hours drive from Because of this and as a reminder as well Remember always these noble Diggers, Wagga Wagga, the AWM is of those who went away yet returned nurses, pilots and seamen every day but one of the nation’s greatest with the horrors of war forever on their especially on 25 April and be thankful tourist attractions, with nearly minds, memorials and monuments are for what they gave and what we have as a million visitors a year. dotted across the country to keep these a result. AWM Director Dr Brendan supreme efforts to the forefront. Nelson said the revamped Each local community has people who gallery would remain have given mightily - some with their consistent with the vision of lives - fighting for what was seen as just MICHAEL McCORMACK MP historian Charles Bean, who saw the memorial as holding and right. Federal Member for Riverina the spirit of those who fought and died in WW1. FROM KAPOOKA TO A VC “We commemorate the LIKE so many of his mates serving in Afghanistan, Corporal sacrifices,” Dr Nelson said. Cameron Stewart Baird VC MG (pictured) graduated from “From a population of 4.5 the Army Recruit Training Centre at Kapooka. In doing so million people, one million he inherited the ANZAC spirit, pride, responsibility, role and men could volunteer. Four tradition which come from earning and wearing the khaki hundred and thirty thousand uniform. Tasmanian-born Cpl Baird (whose name on the did, 330,000 were sent AWM Roll of Honour is shown at right) enlisted on 4 January overseas. Sixty-two thousand 2000 and after completing his initial training was posted to were dead. Another 60,000 the 4th Battalion (Commando), The Royal Australian Regiment, now died within a decade of the 2nd Commando Regiment, in February 2000. He made five tours returning from the 155,000 of duty to Afghanistan and became the nation’s 100th recipient of a wounded or imprisoned. Victoria Cross when it was announced on 13 February he would be “What we will celebrate is a posthumously decorated “For the most conspicuous acts of valour, legacy that has been born of extreme devotion to duty and ultimate self-sacrifice at Ghawchak these cataclysmic events that village, Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan as a Commando Team Commander in shaped and defined largely the Special Operations Task Group on Operation Slipper” on 22 June 2013. way we see COVER: First World War official artist Wallace Anderson’s Australian Soldier, made circa ourselves as 1927, cast in bronze in Melbourne and acquired by the Australian War Memorial in 2004. Australians and relate to OFFICES OF MICHAEL McCORMACK: one another CANBERRA: PO Box 6022, Parliament House, ACT 2600 P: 6277 4725 F: 6277 8563 in the world GRIFFITH: 100 Yambil Street P: 6964 1212 F: 6962 7722 today almost WAGGA WAGGA: Suite 2 11-15 Fitzmaurice Street P: 6921 4600 F: 6921 5900 a century E: [email protected] www.michaelmccormack.com.au later.” https://twitter.com/M_McCormackMP RESTING PLACE: The peaceful grave where the remains from the ill-fated Lancaster Bomber which crashed nearby were interred. mystery OF MISSING BrotHER is SOLved A MISSING Lancaster Bomber, a that the crash and resulting explosion farmer’s field, a Dutch military buff caused.” whose persistence spanned more than Keith’s plane took off from Royal Air three decades and a well-known Wagga Force base Skellingthorpe, near Lincoln, Wagga man who never stopped wondering England … one of 136 bombers, what became of his long-lost brother. accompanied by five Mosquitoes, sent to They were the pieces in an intriguing attack the Dortmund-Ems Canal, a key World War II jigsaw puzzle solved only German transport link. recently. Despite thick clouds, the RAF squadron PILOT: Albert Keith Hornibrook Imagine the emotions of Wagga’s breached the banks and a six-mile Graham Hornibrook when he read an stretch of the canal was drained. official letter late last year confirming the Intercepted on its way home by a Junkers discovery of remains of the plane piloted Ju 88, a German night fighter, ED470 by his brother Albert Keith (known as had a fiery ending, its impact leaving a Keith) shot down on 23 September 1944. large crater in a paddock near the Dutch Graham said his parents James and village of Zelhem. Amanda long held hopes the dashing Local records stated a small amount of Flying Officer had survived the crash, recoverable human remains were buried especially as the rear gunner Sergeant at a nearby cemetery. John Miller parachuted to safety, linked up with the Dutch resistance who Retired Dutch civil servant Peter protected him and survived the war. Monasso traced the whereabouts and identity of each of the other 17 bombers “Slowly my parents accepted that Keith, lost that fateful night to determine along with all but one of his crew, had which one had crashed at the spot. been killed. But where?” Graham wrote relaying his parents’ enduring anxiety His insistence and the subsequent whilst responding to the news which had meticulous dig, which cost 400,000 brought him relief after such a long time. Euros (£335,000) to undertake, finally ensured the ground gave up its secret “The discovery,” Graham continued, “of and a brother’s burden on the other side the identifying engine parts of ED470 of the world could finally be lifted. is wonderful proof of the crashed Lancaster Bomber. This brings closure to Graham was invited to be guest of Keith’s disappearance and obvious death honour at Dutch Remembrance Day commemorations at Zelhem on 4 May to visit the site where Keith’s plane came down as well as the Museum Smedekinck FAMILY (Top): James and where parts of the ED470 are on display, Amanda Hornibrook with their but unfortunately is unable to attend. boys Kevin (back, standing), Keith (kneeling), Gordon (who Eldest brother Flight Lieutenant Harold served in the Navy in WWII) Kevin Hornibrook (known as Kevin) and Graham. CRASH SITE: The extent of the excavation was also a casualty of the war, shot down BROTHERS (Above): Keith looking for remnants of the crashed RAF in a flying battle over Germany on 24 (left) and Kevin Hornibrook in plane can be seen in this aerial view. August 1943. England in mid-1943. Mighty Men of Mangoplah THE World Wars claimed the lives of some of Stanley Hawkins, who died on Mangoplah’s finest. 8 October 1917 from shrapnel wounds to his spine and left Those who made the supreme sacrifice include a soldier thigh sustained in action with who used an alias upon enlistment and who died at the 23rd Battalion five days Gallipoli, an American-born farmer, an author, a Military earlier at Ypres, Belgium. He was Medallist and two brothers. only 23. Their names are amongst those etched in gold on the English-born Merlin Kinneir granite memorial at Mangoplah. Tarte was a short story writer whose works were published in The impressive monument is dedicated to the 14 Australia. courageous locals – four from The Great War and 10 from World War II – who died on active service. A student at the Wagga Wagga Experimental Farm, Pte Tarte That was a significant loss from this tiny farming district was accepted into the AIF in HERO: Ancel Williams – 14 of its best and bravest who left the land they loved to 1917 on his second attempt, having been discharged as do their duty and never came home. medically unfit two years earlier. First to fall was a drover living at Walgett who signed on Shot in his right shoulder during action in France at the as James Taylor at Liverpool on 4 November 1914. start of March 1918, Pte Tarte recovered in England and He was listed as being 28 years of age, 5 feet 9 inches when he was fit again for duty joined the 2nd Machine tall (175 centimetres) with brown hair, blue eyes and his Gun Battalion. initials MJ tattooed on his left forearm … for he was, in He took a severe shrapnel wound in his back, penetrating fact, 34-year-old Michael Jones whose mother Sarah lived his chest, whilst serving on the Hindenburg Line near at “Green Ridge”, Albury Road, Wagga Wagga. Peronne, France, and died the next day, aged 27.