Shrine’s heroic spirit

GREATER Dandenong students visited Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance last week to learn more about the spirit of Anzac.
On 24 April, the day before Anzac Day, students from Maralinga Primary School and Chandler Secondary College, both located in Keysborough, visited the Shrine of Remembrance for the Legacy Anzac Ceremony for Schools.
Maralinga Primary School principal Peter Gray said students were able to learn a lot about Anzac Day and its origins from war veterans present on the day.
“Apart from the ceremony, we went into the Shrine and had a good look round and were fortunate enough to have a good chat with a veteran from the 2/22nd Battalion who served in Rabaul, New Guinea, in World War II, and lost a lot of mates on the Montevideo Maru – a Japanese ship full of prisoners of war which was sunk by the USA.
“This is recognised as one of the great tragedies of the war in the Pacific so the kids were fortunate enough to meet, as I referred to him, a real hero,” Mr Gray said.