MEMORIAL plaques will be dedicated at the Rocky Creek War Memorial Park on Sunday as part of the National Servicemen’s Association’s National Service Day.
Twelve plaques will be unveiled at the Rocky Creek Nasho Shelter, near Tolga, from 10am.
In Innisfail, a street march will leave at 5pm from the Edith Street mall and conclude at ANZAC Park where a memorial service will follow. A dinner will be held afterwards at the Innisfail RSL. It is the only Nasho street march happening in Queensland.
National Servicemen’s Association Tableland branch president John Hardy said the day was a time to remember Nashos.
“In particular PTE Leslie James Weston, 2RAR, who was killed in an ambush in Vietnam aged 21 on 30 September 1967, and is buried at the Atherton cemetery,” Mr Hardy said.
“He is buried at the Atherton cemetery beside his WWII father.’
National Service was part of Australia’s defence preparedness for three decades. Between 1951 and 1972, a total of 287,000 young Australian men were called up in two separate schemes for compulsory training in the Navy, Army and Air Force.
In addition, in the second scheme, 35,000 men were called up to undertake alternative service in the Citizens Military Forces. 212 Nashos died on active service in Borneo and Vietnam during 1965-72.
