Tura Beach resident Joan Rival has never fought in a war and never will, and yet for her Anzac Day is one of the most important days of the year.
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It’s the day she remembers her childhood friends, her cousins and her husband but most of all it’s a time to remember her father.
The Hugh Cunningham Gardens resident who is heavily involved with Far South Coast Legacy said her father, Sydney Neville Ray (Syd), was one of the lucky survivors of the Great War.
“He was only 18 when he went to war, he was the youngest of three boys in the family who all fought in various battles in France,” Ms Rival said.
Syd was injured in France and was taken to a hospital in England to be treated and was lucky enough to experience a mini family reunion.
“My two uncles, Harold and Robert Ray were both at the hospital at the same time and I read in my uncle Harold’s diary that they were sitting there talking when Bob turned to him and said ‘here comes young Syd’,” Ms Rival recalled with a laugh.
“It must have been so great for them to see each other and to know they were all okay.”
As the youngest of four children born after the War, Ms Rival said Anzac Day was always celebrated and was an important part of her childhood.
Ms Rival recalled the many times her family would go down to her in the father march.
The family outings were both a serious and fun occasion for Ms Rival who remembers calling out dad in unison with her siblings simply to watch all the former soldiers turn and look.
“When our dad actually came past we knew to yell out Syd,” Ms Rival said with a sparkle in her eye and a smile on her face.
“In these ways, Anzac Day brings back good memories but there are a lot of sad memories with them.”
Having lived through the Second World War, Ms Rival’s remembers her cousins, brother and husband all going off to fight, and she reflects on her childhood friend who never came back.
“War is a time when many people are faced with death, it’s a hard time.”
With Anzac Day meaning so much to her, Ms Rival said she was honoured to be the resident chosen to lay a wreath at the Hugh Cunningham Gardens Anzac service on Friday morning.
