DOT Handley did not recognise her father when she first met him.
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She was three years old, and he had just returned from serving overseas for five years – much of that time as a Rat of Tobruk during World War Two.
“The only thing I can remember was when he came home, we didn’t know who he was. We just went and told mum there was a man at the gate who wanted to see her,” Mrs Handley said.
“It was our dad.”
More than 70 years later, Mrs Handley and her family laid a wreath at the Kangaroo Flat Anzac Day service in memory of her father Lieutenant George Henry Churchill Jones, a recipient of a Military Medal Mentioned in Despatches for ensuring the safe return of the bodies of his superiors during a battle.
The wreath features imitation magnolias – his favourite flower, which he planted at the family’s former home in Castlemaine to use for the weddings of his six daughters.
Mrs Handley said her father rarely mentioned his service, but would occasionally shed light on the horrific conditions they faced and his near-death experiences.
“Nobody would ever know what they went through,” she said.
Kangaroo Flat Anzac Day full service:
“He said that one fight, he could hear this whistling.
“He couldn’t work out where it was coming from, he took his helmet off to see if he could hear better, and there was a hole through his helmet.”
The wreath sat among many others at the Kangaroo Flat cenotaph on Wednesday morning during a moving Anzac Day service.
More coverage: Your guide to Anzac Day 2018 in Bendigo and central Victoria
Brigadier Steven Lee AM (retired) gave the Anzac Day address, speaking about the lasting legacy of those who landed at Gallipoli.
His own great uncle was shot dead in a landing boat at Gallipoli before it could reach the shore.
Mr Lee said the fact that Australians continue to hold April 25th in the highest possible regard was a reflection of the country’s gratitude to those who served.
Kangaroo Flat Anzac Day march:
“If they had not been emblematic of the nation we thought they were, Anzac Day would not have been commemorated from that time to this,” he said.
“It’s the perseverance of those who scaled the cliffs under a rain of fire.
“It’s the compassion of nurses who attended to the thousands of wounded.
“It’s the conquest of fear often through a larrikin sense of humour.
“And it’s the greatest love anyone can have - the readiness to lay down your life for your friend.”
Members of the Kangaroo Flat RSL Sub-branch, cadets, marching bands, community groups and schools marched from St Monica’s Primary School, along High Street and to the cenotaph where they were greeted by hundreds.
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