Jarred Wilson remembers sitting on his grandfather’s lap as a child admiring his war medals.
However, it wasn’t until he was selected to represent Western Health to lay a wreath at the Anzac Day service in Bacchus Marsh, that Jarred felt inspired to delve deeper into his family’s military history.
‘I always knew my grandfather had served, but I never knew the details because in those days they didn’t talk about what they did in the war,’ Jarred explains.
Fortunately, through conversations with his father and insights from his uncle, Jarred unearthed valuable information about his grandfather, Geoffrey Albert Harris, who served in the Second World War.
He learned that his grandfather was a light anti-aircraft gunner and likely fought in the Middle East and New Guinea.
As Jarred prepares to lay the wreath on 25 April, he does so with a newfound appreciation of his grandfather’s sacrifice.
‘Playing the last post always brings emotion as I think about all the people who have served,’ Jarred said.
‘But this year, it will have even greater significance and I'll be thinking about my grandfather serving in the Middle East.’
Our Lone Pine link
In his role at Bacchus Marsh Hospital in engineering, grounds and gardens, Jarred tends to our living memorial to the First World War: a large Aleppo Pine standing at the front corner of the garden.
‘It’s such a sacred tree, but this year in the lead-up to Anzac Day I have given it a bit of an uplift so people can walk or sit underneath it,’ he said.
The tree serves as a living link to the original Lone Pine that once stood on the Gallipoli Peninsula, the site of the Battle of Lone Pine in 1915.
The battle was one of the deadliest of the campaign, resulting in more than 2,000 causalities across six Australian battalions and more than 6,000 Turks were killed or wounded.
In 1965, as part of a commemorative project led by Legacy, a pine seedling was planted at the hospital.
Then, in 2005, a new Lone Pine was planted at the site, propagated from the original 1965 tree.
The tree aims to honour the service and sacrifice of the Anzac spirit and to symbolise the enduring values of courage, mateship and remembrance.
