SOME of AustraliaChr(39)s most senior past and present military personnel planted cherry trees in Bowral yesterday at what will be one of the countryChr(39)s most frequented Vietnam War memorials.
Chief of Army and commander of the peacekeeping forces in East Timor Lieutenant General Peter Cosgrove led an imposing force of military and civilian dignitaries at the Bowral Vietnam Memorial Walk ceremony.
The occasion was to plant 12 cherry trees in addition to the 60 or so planted last Wednesday by a team of Council staff.
Among the planters were Lt Gen. Cosgrove, the Royal Australian NavyChr(39)s Rear Admiral Geoffrey Woolrych (ret) and Royal Australian Air ForceChr(39)s Air Vice Marshall Sir Neville McNamara (ret).
In an address before some 300 people, including parliamentarians, war veterans and their families, Lt Gen. Cosgrove paid tribute to the army of community volunteers who have established the walk.
The INTERFET commander was also taken by the number of children at yesterdayChr(39)s gathering.
"I am particularly delighted, and I know all the Vietnam Veterans are, at the presence of so many youngsters. We find their presence both uplifting and tremendously humbling," he said.
"Uplifting in the sense, that they are here today to see some of the communityChr(39)s best men and women honoured by the Memorial Walk and this great memorial.
"WeChr(39)re also humbled because we know that they will represent our aspirations and those sorts of things that we as Australians so many years ago now felt was important in our very Australianness.
"We hope today is a memory theyChr(39)ll carry forward ... and explain the significance of what they see."
His address also told of the "irony" of military service, recounting his meeting on Friday with the 6th Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment who were about to conclude their duties in East Timor.
"I was able to tell those magnificent young men how proud we were of their service, how greatly relieved (we were) that they were on their way home safe and sound," he said.
"Then to learn this morning, a number of them were injured in a vehicle accident in their final hours in East Timor.
"It was both an ironic tragedy and a relief to hear that their luck, in terms of death, had held."
Lt. Gen. Cosgrove joined Federal Finance Minister John Fahey and Wingecarribee Mayor Phil Yeo in praising those behind the creation of Bowral Vietnam Memorial Walk.
Mr Fahey described Walk Trust chairwomen Effie KerrChr(39)s role as one of "leadership" and the memorial as a "magnificent monument".
"I believe we will ensure that those who served in Vietnam will be looked upon equally history by our children and grandchildren as they always should have," Mr Fahey said.
Mrs Kerr said itChr(39)s her committeeChr(39)s aim to establish the Memorial "as the number two memorial in Australia" behind perhaps CanberraChr(39)s.
"Many of our Vietnam Vets are carrying wounds they did not receive in battle and we hope that this environmental memorial will in time heal a number of those wounds," she said.
She described the Lieutenant General as one of AustraliaChr(39)s great heroes.
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