Stirring ANZAC Speech By RAAF Veteran

Friends of the Odd Bods member, Gabrielle Hogan, gave us a heads up on a recent article in Sydney Newspapers about RAAF Pilot Eric Barton and it is one of his ANZAC Day speeches that particularly caught her attention.
Eric Barton flew as a Lancaster pilot with No 186 Squadron Royal Air Force RAF between October 1944 and March 1945. He was part of the Pathfinders, the target-marking squadrons in RAF Bomber Command.
In a speech at the Cronulla RSL Anzac Dawn Service in 2013 he delivered a powerful message. He told the crowd: 

"You don’t need to wear a uniform to be an Anzac; you need to treasure and fight for our laws, our individual right of free speech. Don’t waste your freedom. Don’t be a ‘she’ll-be-right-mate’ Australian; be an Anzac Australian like your oldies. They didn’t say ‘she’ll be right, mate'. They made sure it would be right by doing, and in many cases by giving their lives to make sure it would be right mate.”

Eric Barton passed away in February 2019. The link to the full article can be found here - Eric Barton WW2 Pathfinder - "the best of the best".