A young woman runs beside the Anzac parade with her hand aloft clutching a phone. It’s obvious she’s chasing someone she knows. As it turns out, it’s her brother Jake, a soldier recently returned from Afghanistan.
“I’m just so proud of my brother,” Jessica Wiecek said. “It’s fantastic to be able to have him still here. I know there are so many other people who aren’t able to be here, I know he’s lost friends … it’s to commemorate the people that can’t be here.”
It was the younger soldiers, those who have served since 1975, who led the armed forces in Friday’s march down St Kilda Road to the Shrine of Remembrance. And for a parade that has enough participants to last around four hours, going first is certainly an honour.
For Matthew Holdsworth, it was his first time marching under the Afghanistan banner since he returned home at the end of 2007.
He was marching for himself, but also for the friends he lost during his time serving in both the army and navy.
“Every Anzac Day when we hear the Last Post I get very emotional because I have lost some mates,” Matthew said.
He believes putting the more recent war contingents up front is a good way of highlighting those who are serving their country right now.
“It’s very important, especially with the current campaigns we’ve got going on, that certain personnel can show their dedication by leading the march,” he said.
Steve Rundle was part of a smaller post-1975 group, marching under the Solomon Islands banner.
Working as a computer operator, his most recent time serving abroad was in 2008. He said leading the parade, which he also does in his father’s memory, was an honour.
“It’s nice to start off at the beginning,” Steve said. “It was sort of expected with Afghanistan finishing, and we’re all sort of joined together as the same group.”
As for Jessica Wiecek, she was still jogging back and forth beside the parade, filming her brother Jake from all angles. Nearing the Shine, she showed no signs of fatigue, with a huge smile on her face.
“It’s amazing to be here,” she said. Thousands of other Victorians attending the parade clearly agreed.
Earlier in the day an elderly man collapsed at the Anzac Day parade and was taken to hospital in a serious condition.
The man collapsed at the start of the march but paramedics were at his side “literally within seconds” as they were on stand-by for the event, an Ambulance Victoria spokesman said.
Paramedics performed CPR in front of dozens of people before taking the man in an ambulance to the Alfred hospital, he said.
The medical emergency held up the march for at least 15 minutes with many in the crowd unaware of what was going on.
It’s not known if the man was participating in the march or watching from the side lines.
