The news that local RSLs will proceed with ANZAC services on April 25 is great news.
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While there will be a maximum 500-person limit, the ANZAC day services will be the first major event to go ahead after the COVID pandemic shut down gatherings, celebrations and festivals in early 2020.
Local RSLs will need to have COVID safe plans in place, but at the very least we will be able to get together as a community for our annual commemoration of the men and woman who served Australia.
There have been other occasions when ANZAC day has been disrupted since the commemoration began in 1916. During the Second Ward War, the Government discouraged large ANZAC gatherings because they feared they would be a target for Japanese bombing attack.
Last years' service saw millions of Aussies commemorating at home. I was surprised to see scores of my neighbours - many in PJ's and with hair pointing in all directions - quietly reflecting at the end of their driveways. It was a fantastic way of recognising the sacrifice of diggers.
While last year's curbside vigil was moving, a multi-year halt runs the risk of threatening the momentum the ANZAC day dawn service has gathered in recent years with numbers growing year on year.
The dawn service is a uniquely Australian event that pulls us out of our beds and out of our time where we can, even if it's only for an hour, recognise what sacrifice, comradeship and bravery mean to Australia.
It can't wait another 12 months.
