- Flame strong for WWI diggers -
26.04.2003 17:55:03
Moments before yesterday`s ANZAC march, Sydney`s blustery skies
opened up and threatened to rain on Marcel Caux`s parade.
But when you`re 104 and marching for only the second time after the better part of a century, it seems the elements are on your side.
The downpour disappeared and Mr Caux`s eyes lit up as he boarded a military jeep for his double lap around the streets.
Marcel Caux and friend Keith Hall
ANZAC Day 2002
Mr Caux and Brisbane`s Ted Smout, 105, were the only two of the nine surviving World War I Diggers to attend yesterday`s ANZAC Day marches.
Looking understandably frail but grinning from ear to ear, both drew the loudest cheers from the crowds cramming streets in Sydney and Brisbane.
Perhaps it was his awful memories of the "colossal losses" of the Great War that led Marcel Caux after the war to lie to his wife and family, saying he had been much too young to enlist and had not served.
He, in fact, was 16, but that did not stop him from going.
But Mr Caux did not speak a word of his injuries on the slaughter grounds of Pozieres, Villers-Bretonneux or Amiens until the French Government awarded him a Legion of Honour in 1998.
Now living in Chatswood in Sydney`s north, he first attended ANZAC Day last year.
"I tell you what, last year I cried all the way around (the parade), that`s how much it affected me," he said.
Mr Caux`s message to Australia is to be united, because "a united Australia is a strong Australia".
But he was saddened to hear soldiers were again going to battle in Iraq.
"It`s so useless, there`s nothing gained by it," he said.
He said he survived the war with the motto "just keep going, it`s all you can do".
Sitting in the passenger seat of a 1927-style yellow cab as he toured Brisbane`s streets, Mr Smout waved happily at the people packed on both sides of the road as he led the parade through the streets of the city.
In the lead-up to the parade, doubts were raised over Mr Smout`s health following a recent stroke and a tangle with a grandfather clock.
Having moved from his Sandgate home in Brisbane`s north to a nearby retirement home, he was not expected to make it to the parade due to poor health.
But at the last minute, he was given the all-clear.
"I think it`s important that Australia remember," he said before setting off in the vintage vehicle.
Last year, Queensland saluted two local World War I veterans on ANZAC Day. But with the death of 104-year-old Eric Abraham in March, Mr Smout this year was the sole survivor.
A group of actors led by costume designer Ian Sparke formed part of the march as an honour guard for Mr Smout, wearing uniforms from the two world wars.
Mr Sparke said he was marching with the memory of Eric Abraham uppermost in his mind. "We all loved him," he said.
acknowledge:
by The Australian
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au
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