The presence of Dubbo newcomer Shaun Graham struck a raw nerve among older diggers, including vice president of the Dubbo RSL sub branch Tom Gray.

“God love them and take care of them,” Mr Gray said of current Australian servicemen like Warrant Officer Graham of the Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery.

On Sunday he stepped foot on Australian soil after an eight-month stint in Afghanistan.

“It’s a little bit tough for them over there,” said Mr Gray.

No such admission passed the lips of the officer, who is calling Dubbo home despite taking up a position as an instructor at the Royal Military College in Canberra.

“Rest assured all of the Australian soldiers that I served with over there did an extremely professional job,” he said when asked about service in Afghanistan.

“There were a lot of things going on around us. Thankfully everyone came home safe, luckily.”

Warrant Officer Graham was among a cross-section of the Dubbo community that turned out to honour the ultimate sacrifice made by Australians in all theatres of war.

Elderly ex-servicemen and women ignored nearby seats and stood erect in the hot sun. Surrounding them were office workers, labourers, mothers with their children, senior citizens, emergency service workers, dignitaries and others.

Children and youth played a significant role in the ceremony with school students laying wreaths and Australian Army and Air Force cadets providing the catafalque party.

Wongarbon Public School’s Rachel Krause-Poyser, 10, read her poem ‘Sleep In Peace’, which earned a merit award in this year’s Australia My Country competition run by the State RSL.

Warrant Officer Graham was in the United Kingdom for Remembrance Day 2008.

Paying homage to the “the fallen” in Dubbo was “brilliant”.

“These things are a lot more moving in tight-knit communities,” the recently returned serviceman said.

Mr Gray thinks the “crowds are getting bigger” at the annual Remembrance Day ceremonies in Dubbo and many who can’t make it to the cenotaph each November 11 still pay their respects with a minute of silence, wherever they may be.

kim.bartley@ruralpress.com

Sleep in Peace - by Rachel Krause-Poyser

I hear a gun

So I start to run

I stop in fear

I hear someone is near.

I look to my right

And begin to fight.

I stop and hear my heart beat . . .

I look down at my feet

I see blood

I am standing in bloody mud

Next thing I know I am laying on a creaking stretcher

I look up remembering the past

Seeing people flashing by so fast

I close my eyes, me head starts to bend

I know it’s the end

Sleep in peace my fellow soldiers