Local veterans and sub-branch members joined a sprinkling of locals to commemorate Remembrance Day in Muswellbrook on Friday, November 11.
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In his address to the service, Williamtown-based RAAF Squadron Leader and president of Muswellbrook RSL Sub- branch Tim Seymour, reminded those gathered in the spring sunshine that just over a century ago World War One claimed more than 60,000 Australian lives - a devastating toll for a country of just five million - while globally some 10 million military personnel died in the "Great War".
Muswellbrook was touched by several deaths. Among them was Ernest Albert King, a young man who died less than a month after landing in France.
"Mothers attending memorials only had to engage each other with their eyes and utter a single word," Seymour said.
"By saying Gallipoli, Passchendaele, Ypres or Bullecourt they knew that a son, husband or relative had died there. Each knew of the others grief - no more needed to be said."
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Many more died from lingering wounds after returning home.
"Sadly, these men are not on the walls of remembrance at the Australian War Memorial."
Seymour went on to warn that Australia must be "steadfast once again to defend our nation" if tensions in China result in a military conflict over its territorial claim on Taiwan.
"We live in turbulent times and have a very aggressive China to our north," Seymour told around 60 people who gathered at the town's cenotaph.
"Some strategists believe China could launch a conflict on Taiwan within 12 months.
"We must prepare and be steadfast once again to defend our nation as we will be inexorably drawn into the conflict."
Seymour's address was followed by the laying of wreaths by the sub-branch vice-president Craig Ross, Acting Inspector Mark Abbott, Muswellbrook RSL Club CEO Daryl Egan with club president Brodern Adam-Smith, and the Shire Council's acting general manager Derek Finnigan and Cr De-Anne Douglas.
Later sub-branch members and their families met at the RSL club to continue swapping memories over drinks and finger food.
Seymour said the biggest challenge facing the local sub-branch was enticing new members - both former ADF personnel and volunteers from the community.
He's hoping a five-year plan by NSW RSL will bolster membership of local sub-branches and support them in their often-unseen work in advocating for veterans and their families, and supporting those struggling with depression, PTSD and other mental and physical health issues.
"We have to change the perception of us just being a bunch of old blokes sitting around drinking beer."