Bringing the fallen home, Updated Mission acccomplished

[jack404]

now that i've got "other projects" up and running and handed over to good people to run with , i am returning back to my previous work of Veterans welfare, especially our Indigenous ( Aboriginal or Koori ) troops

on Saturday evening i was invited to attend a celebration and to help launch a campaign here to help bring some of our WW2 veterans home from the New Guinea battlefields where they fell

Saterdays event was for the Archibald family

below the story from the link and Frank Archibalds cousin and myself , "Uncle" Richard Archibald ( Uncle is respectfull term here for a tribal elder and how i address "men of law" and elders )

http://aap.newscentre.com.au/cpsunat.../26301942.html

we'll be raising funds to get the family across at least and we hope to bring Franks remains home sometime after ANZAC Day 2012

funny thing is when i was younger Uncle Richard and myself attended the same Church for many years without knowing of his efforts to bring his family home , wish we knew then but many Aboriginal folks dont speak up about such personal things .. its time folks speak up

All our troops need to be brought home

[jack404]

Ok finished with the sponsorship and media package for the fund raising operation here

if anyone from anywhere wishes to use this format to raise funds for your troops in any way feel free to steal it and use as a template,

the attached PDF document will be part of a mass email and fax campaign going to every major business , government office and veterans group in the country here

and for those with just a general interest of military history , theres a few good stories about mate ship/brotherhood in tough places during war ...

[jack404]

a update

we've raised all the funds needed and now heres the news story from here

Almost 70 years later, Digger gets his burial




BEFORE he volunteered to fight in the New Guinea campaign in 1942, Private Frank Richard Archibald needed ''dog tags'' to walk into an Armidale shop.
They weren't soldier's tags, although he had served in Egypt, Tobruk, Greece and Crete, but the label given to the Aborigines Welfare Board certification that said he was allowed to move freely in town.
''So this man give his life to his country, and this country didn't want to know this man as a man,'' said his relative Mavis Davis, 60. ''It treated this man like a dog.''
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Almost 70 years after the 25-year-old soldier was killed by a sniper's bullet on the Kokoda Track near Sanananda, his family and supporters go to Papua New Guinea to honour him and finally put his spirit to rest.
A group of 12 - including his only surviving sibling, Grace Gordon, 75 - will leave Sydney for Port Moresby this morning to conduct a traditional Aboriginal burial ceremony at his grave in the Bomana War Cemetery, where the family had decided to have him buried when he died.
The Anzac Day event, six years in the making, marks a new chapter in Australia's history.
''This is the first time that it's ever been done for the Aboriginal boys that went overseas and fought for Australia and up in New Guinea,'' said Ms Gordon from Armidale. ''I'm very proud of them, and I'm very proud now to think that this is going to be a big thing.''
The ceremony will be conducted in the Gumbaynggirr language from northern NSW and use traditional song and dance to invite Private Archibald's spirit home.
The group will then visit the graves of five other indigenous diggers buried in Papua New Guinea, with instructions from their families detailing how they would like them honoured.
Private Archibald's cousin and only surviving male relative, Richard Archibald, 65, said he felt responsible for ensuring his only family member not buried in Australia found a way back. A community-based Kokoda Aboriginal Servicemen's Campaign helped raise funds.
"Now it is time to end the grieving by bringing his spirit home to Gumbaynggirr country - the country of our people," Mr Archibald said.
A specially commissioned didgeridoo bearing Gumbaynggirr totems, as well as the uniformed images of Private Archibald and other family members who served, will mark the start of the official Anzac Day service at Bomana.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/almost-70-...#ixzz1sXHFtUFq

[whymememe]

Your going to heaven, Jack.

[jack404]

just looking after the troops and their families as best we can mate.

would you do any less ??

[raven818]

Awesome story, Jack. WTG.

[BETH]

thanks Jack

[jack404]

OK Richard and Family Got to Kokoda and are back this week a invites gone out to all who helped

so Saterday i'll head off to Concord and say g'day to all the folks