A thank-you note to the WWII veterans from Upper Yarra RSL
What is the AIPP/RSL/TWM Reflections project
The Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP), the Returned and Service League of Australia (RSL), and the Australian War Memorial have joined for a very special project called Reflections. This project is to photograph all of Australia’s surviving World War II veterans. These portraits will be presented to the RSL and Australian War Memorial and each veteran receive a printed copy of their photos.
Thanks to 93 professional photographers that donated their time and skills for this project, more than 5000 veterans were already photographed all around Australia. There are now less than 100 veterans in Victoria that still need to have their photos taken.
If you know of any veteran that has not been photographed, please contact me or AIPP directly
In 2021 AIPP was extinct.
I was able to contribute to this project once more by photographing a group of veterans from Upper Yarra RSL.
Upper Yarra RSL is quite a nice place in a beautiful area. It has a remembrance garden that you can see in the first photo of this article.
It was a great pleasure to talk to these special people and hear some of their stories.
One of them told me he was working on a merchant ship that was sunk by a Japanese warship. He escaped the first attack and was in a small boat waiting for rescue. After a few days, they saw another Japanese ship approaching them. He thought it was the end for them. Then, from nowhere, an American ship appeared and destroyed the Japanese ship. It was surely a close call!
Another person told me that during the war years, she had worked as a volunteer during the night in a factory producing sleeping bags to be sent to the soldiers. This was in addition to her full-time day job.
When I hear these stories, I think how lucky our generation is and how much our life could have been different if was not for their efforts. We need to say a big THANK YOU.
I would like to say a personal thank you to William Holmes, Clyde Farnell, Eric Penfold, Ivan Weinert, James Davison, Leo Clarke, Mavis Clarke, Frederick Hawker, William Bouchier and William Avard.
Last week I received a phone call from Mavis saying that she and Leo had received their photos and were very happy with the results and about being part of the project. That call made my day!
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