Mayor's Weekly Message
Lance-Corporal Luke Nathan Gavin
2 Nov 2011
It was with immense sadness that we learned this week of the death of Lance-Corporal Luke Nathan Gavin who, along with two of his comrades, was killed on active duty in Afghanistan last weekend.
Corporal Gavin, married with three children, was born in Manly and based in North Queensland.
The entire Nation will be all the more mindful of the immense sacrifices and hardships being undertaken on our behalf by Australia’s servicemen and servicewomen this Remembrance Day, which is being commemorated in Manly at The Manly War Memorial on The Corso, this Friday 11 November.
Corporal Gavin’s name will be inscribed on The Manly War Memorial where his name will be immortalized along with 481 other servicemen and servicewomen whose names are presently engraved on the monument.
Notice will be given of a dedication service to be held at The Manly War Memorial.
Manly Council’s 2011 Remembrance Day Ceremony will this year involve up to 30 separate organisations participating in an official wreath-laying followed by an opportunity for the general public to lay private tributes on behalf of the men and women whose names are engraved on the monument.
The 2011 Manly Council Remembrance Day Ceremony is a civic occasion and all members of the community are invited to attend. Remembrance poppies will be sold at the Manly War Memorial in the days leading up to the event.
As part of the commemorative service, the song 'Bring Him Home' will be performed by Celeste Haworth who will also perform the National Anthem. The Last Post will be played by Bugler David Watts.
Those attending are asked to be seated by 10.40am.
Remembrance Day commemorates the Armistice which formally concluded hostilities in World War One, the ceasefire taking effect at 11.00am, on 11 November, 1918.
The Manly War Memorial was the gift in 1916 of Mark Mitchell and his family. Their son, Alan David Mitchell, was the first soldier from Manly to die in World War One.
Jean Hay AM
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