{"id":3866,"date":"2009-05-14T00:59:31","date_gmt":"2009-05-13T13:59:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fffaif.wordpress.com\/?p=3866"},"modified":"2009-05-14T00:59:31","modified_gmt":"2009-05-13T13:59:31","slug":"anzac-day-bullecourt-france-09","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/?p=3866","title":{"rendered":"*ANZAC DAY, Bullecourt, France. '09."},"content":{"rendered":"

Yves Fohlen, FFFAIF<\/em> member in France continues his report from ANZAC Day with an account on the commemorations at Bullecourt. (50o<\/sup>11\u201933.47\u201dW, 2o<\/sup>55\u201938.87\u201dE). Yves\u2019 report on ANZAC Day Dawn Service can be read by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

ANZAC Day Bullecourt, France<\/strong><\/p>\n

I made my way to Dernancourt British military to remember a Digger: \u00a04296 Corporal A Sattler 53rd<\/sup> Infantry Battalion who died from wounds on 11 March 1917.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"IMGP0750_sml\"<\/a><\/p>\n

After a short private ceremony just for him I went to Bullecourt to help my friend Jean Letaille AM to welcome visitors.\u00a0
\nIt was also great for to meet my \u2018English brother\u2019 Paul Kendall who currently writes a new book about the battles of Bullecourt. Paul\u2019s relative Private George Kendall 22nd<\/sup> Manchester Regiment was listed as Missing in action at Bullecourt on 12 May 1917.<\/p>\n

\"IMGP0791_sml\"<\/a><\/p>\n

At 3.00 pm with Paul Kendall, Jean Letaille AM, Mr Jules Laude, Mayor of Bullecourt, two French Flag bearers we welcomed the coming of Australian personalities. That coming happened at the little cross memorial erected where the Diggers broke the German lines.<\/p>\n

\"IMGP0773_sml\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0This year our Australian personalities and friends were : Mr Alan Griffin Minister of Veterans\u2018 Affairs, his Excellency Vice Admiral Kevin Scarce, His Excellency Mr David Ritchie Ambassador of Australia in France, Major General J P Stevens AO, Colonel F\u00e9lix Skorwronski Australian Attach\u00e9 de D\u00e9fense.
\nWreaths were layed.<\/p>\n

\"IMGP0776_sml\"Photo:\u00a0\u00a0Mr Alan Griffin Minister of Veterans\u2018 Affairs laying a wreath at ‘the little cross memorial’.<\/p>\n

\"IMGP0780_sml\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo: The Mayor of Bullecourt laying a wreath at ‘the little cross memorial’.<\/p>\n

\u00a0That unofficial ceremony is a very moving moment\u2026for me \u2018a Must\u2019<\/p>\n

\"IMGP0794_sml_cropped\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0Then all the personalities went to the centre of the village to start the official Anzac day ceremony. A crowd of about 2000 persons was there. \u00a0French personalities from Nord Pas de Calais region took part in the ceremonies. Then Anzac Day ceremonies ended at the Digger Memorial.<\/p>\n

After the ceremonies a \u201cpot de l\u2019Amiti\u00e9\u2019 was given in the centre of the village.<\/p>\n

Mr Alan Griffin and several others VIPs visited Jean Letaille\u2019s museum. On the museum visitors book Mr Griffin wrote: \u2018Magnifique!\u2019. That visit was of importance for all of us who are working on the New Bullecourt Museum. [The previous day, Mr Griffin announced the development of the “ANZAC Trail” on the Western Front that included an Australian Government contribution to\u00a0upgrading the Bullecourt Musuem.]<\/p>\n

Back at home…after such intense Anzac Day…it was hard for me to come back on Earth.<\/p>\n

[The photos in this report were taken by Yves Fohlen]<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

The Families and Friends of the First AIF<\/strong><\/em> thanks the Australian, UK and French governments for affording Australian and British soldiers \u2013 presently buried in mass graves at Pheasant Wood \u2013 dignified individual reburials in a new CWGC cemetery at Fromelles, and applauds Minister Snowdon and his British counterpart, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence and Minister for Veterans, Kevan Jones MP, for their joint decision to DNA test the remains at exhumation and use every reasonable method to attempt identification of each soldier.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yves Fohlen, FFFAIF member in France continues his report from ANZAC Day with an account on the commemorations at Bullecourt. (50o11\u201933.47\u201dW, 2o55\u201938.87\u201dE). Yves\u2019 report on ANZAC Day Dawn Service can be read by clicking here. ANZAC Day Bullecourt, France I … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anzac-day","category-bullecourt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3866\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}