So Anzac Day has come and gone for another year and the respect
35,000 people showed up at the War Memorial in Canberra and countless thousands more turned up at hundreds of dawn services and marches across the country.
It got me thinking about legacies and what these brave men and women are remembered for now they've passed on. There would be innumerable stories of courage, mateship, hardship and stoic humour that were told at the wakes of these heroes.
Grandkids and great-grandkids who were unaware of just how much adversity and the perils their departed loved one faced and triumphed over simply to return home would wonder how they never knew the story behind the smile.
One such story is the previously forgotten story of my great-grandfather, Private George Leahy and the boy he smuggled out of Belgium in his kit bag in 1918. Uncovered again after exhaustive research by my sister Sonya Moon a couple of years ago, it's a remarkable story of the Australian Identity - Bravery, a healthy disrespect for over officiousness, mateship and decency.
It garnered national attention in 2017 but so easily could have remained forgotten if not for Sonya's determination. Here's the story: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-16/family-discovers-fate-of-wwi-belgian-boy-smuggled-by-australians/6390646
Our generations are the lucky ones. Propped up by the sacrifices of those that came before us we are free to live and love in peace, hold differing beliefs without fear or persecution and carve out our own identity in the "lucky country"
Still, when the day comes of our own wake, what stories will be told about us? Will they be of courage and sacrifice or how we made a difference no matter how small?
How would you like to be remembered?
With our help Millingtons just asked the same question: