Posted on 11/01/2013 4:13:43 PM PDT by naturalman1975
SOLDIERS serving in Afghanistan are furious that the top brass want to destroy a memorial wall at the main base in Oruzgan Province that carries the names of 40 Australians killed during our longest war.
Under the plan, the names of the dead will be painted over and the three large concrete panels they are written on broken down and buried on site.
Many Diggers, the families of those soldiers killed and the Australian War Memorial, all want the wall removed and brought back to Australia to be displayed at the national memorial in Canberra.
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The memorial panels feature 114 names of all coalition troops (Australian, American, Dutch and French) based at Camp Holland in Oruzgan Province who have died during the war.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailytelegraph.com.au ...
The idea of this memorial being destroyed rather than brought home to Australia seems wrong to me. The argument seems to be that because there are names from three other countries on the wall, moving it to Australia is too complicated. Now if the other countries involved objected, it might be different, but that does not seem to be the case - we've been told that senior officers and officials from France, Holland, and the United States are perfectly happy for the wall to come home to Australia for display at a War Memorial here (I personally think it belongs at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra).
Please consider signing the petition at: Our diggers sacrificed their lives for us - don’t destroy the memorial with their names on it.
One of the things I find most disturbing is the apparent implication that because our troops chose to honour their allies as well, that this makes the wall somehow less Australian. Standing by your mates is one of the most Australian ideals there is.
It’s a sad state when a gov’t asks soldiers to die for it but will not honor their death.
No government that far gone, is worth salvaging.
What do you think the new PM says about this?I’d really like to know.
But it really needs to be taken out of Afghanistan. God only knows what the muzzies would do to it once the troops leave.
So would I - as far as I know, he hasn’t been consulted, but I’m hoping he will get involved (he has already intervened in a case that would have removed a reference to God on the Tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier - this is an area where, while he cannot force a change, his views are likely to be influential - if he told the ADF, he’d like the memorial brought home, they’d certainly at least look at the logistics again). The petition might make it more likely he intervenes.
Bringing it home is not a trivial exercise, but it's certainly not beyond the capabilities of Army engineers to disassemble it and a RAAF C-17 to carry it.
I'll drink to that. I have a good old Ozzie mate, friend of my dad's before me. I'd take him to the range with me, if I could get him to take a break from churning out books. :-)
He seems to be a man that would do the right thing.I will watch for this.
sounds like we aren’t the only military with flag officers acting like perfumed princes and completely out of touch with their soldiers.
They’ll be ordered to paint the Black Flag of Jihad over it, no doubt, on the way out.
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