Portland residents John Moss and Robert Houlison hosted a Remembrance Day ceremony at the Portland War Memorial on Monday, November 11 in the sunshine for local residents.
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A small crowd turned out to mark the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice treaty.
Vietnam veteran and founder of the Lithgow World War I Commemorative Plaque project Ian Burrett gave the commemorative address and spoke about his memorial research.
"One other point I would like to make is that anyone with the most basic knowledge about the world wars would agree that many of the people who returned, because of lingering physical and emotional problems suffered more than those that died during their service," he said.
"Returned people certainly have as much right to be named on the memorial as those who died. Their families also suffered and because of this I feel that those family members should also be remembered today."
Mr Burrett also spoke about how he believed that remembering war heroes would diminish in time.
"It is up to everyone here today to do all we can to encourage as many people as possible to genuinely keep on saying the words 'Lest we forget'," he said.
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Mr Burrett on behalf of the Portland RSL sub-branch also made the announcement that they had changed The Ode to include returned soldiers.
The Ode is the forth stanza in the poem 'For the Fallen' by Laurence Binyon, which is often recited at Remembrance Day ceremonies.
"To enable Australians to personally associate with the Ode, the Portland RSL sub-branch thinks it is well overdue to also honour those who served and returned," he said.
In all future commemorative services organised by the Portland RSL sub-branch the Ode shall now read:
To those who died in war, we will always say, they shall not grow old as we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them nor the year condemn.
And to those who returned and have since passed away we also honour their service today.
To both those that died and returned, at the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.
Lest we forget.
Groups laid wreaths at the bottom of the memorial, including Portland RSL, the Portland RSL sub-branch, St Joseph's school, Portland CWA, Portland women's auxiliary and Portland Men's Shed.
The ceremony was then followed by a luncheon in the Portland RSL Sport Recreation Club.
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