Service highlights war’s price of peace

A large crowd turned out for the dawn service at the Gunnedah cenotaph with the Salvation Army’s Sally Anne and Peter Hall delivering the Anzac Day address, reflection and blessing.

Prayers of gratitude and thanks were offered for those who held the value of peace higher than the value of their own life.

“As we stand here let us consider the very real cost of this peace. We have so many to thank for this priceless peace which we enjoy,” Sally Anne Hall said.

“Let us show how grateful we are for peace and our appreciation of its real value by doing our utmost in making sure that peace continues for future generations by following theirs and Christ’s selfless example of love and values.

“We pray for those who have survived conflict, especially those who carry the scars of their service in their souls, minds and bodies. We grieve for those who have been so destroyed by what they experienced in service of their country that they have found no other option but to end their lives. We cannot understand the deep pain that they carried.”

Peter Hall recalled a book he had read about a resistance movement providing assistance and safe havens to escaped prisoners of war and Jews in Rome during the German occupation of Italy.

“The book begins with a letter from a Scottish prisoner of war being held in Italy, and it reads: ‘Dear Mother, Father, and family. This is the last letter I will be able to write as I get shot today. Dear family, I have laid down my life for my country and everything that was dear to me. I hope this war will be over soon so that you will all have peace for ever. Goodbye. Your ever-loving soldier, son and brother, Willie’.

“This short, sad, letter spoke to me of exactly how priceless are the things that are dear to us and what lengths people will go to protect them. This soldier, Willie, paid the ultimate price for everything that was dear to him. His family, his country and peace,” Peter Hall told the crowd.

Steven Hopwood sang the national anthem at the Gunnedah dawn service.

“His desire was that his family would have peace for ever. What a goal. What a vision. Isn’t it so unfortunate that history tells us that the years of war are long and the years of peace are short. That knowledge along with the incalculable human cost of peace should have us striving to do whatever is in our power to keep the peace and prevent any disruption of it. Knowing what peace is though, is what really makes it priceless.

“Some definitions of peace are quiet, calm, freedom from war, civil order and a state of harmony. These definitions sound like something worth having, don’t they? They are situations of great value and desire. They are real situations that can be obtained. Peace can start within each one of us and expand outwards into our communities.

“Our peace is of immense value to God, and it cost him dearly -as it did for Willie, the Scottish prisoner of war. And, as it has for all those people whose names are on this honour roll and the honour rolls in every town.

“As it has for the returned soldiers who went to restore peace – peace is of immense value to the people who are out there right now keeping the peace, or trying to bring peace to those areas of conflict that are raging around the world.

“This morning, we have gathered to remember the sacrifices of those who held the value of peace higher than the value of their own life. Sacrifices in both death and life. As we stand here let us consider the very real cost of this peace,” Peter Hall said.

“We have so many to thank for this priceless peace which we enjoy. Let us show how grateful we are for peace and our appreciation of its real value by doing our utmost in making sure that peace continues for future generations by following their and Christ’s selfless example of love and values.”

The dawn service closed as the rising sun broke though the clouds and covered the town in morning light, to the first sounds of birds chirping and a solemn silence form those who paused to remember.”