Minister for Veterans’ Affairs today paid tribute to the
Australians who fought and died at the Battle of
Bullecourt as he attended a commemoration service to
mark the 100
th anniversary of the battle.
Some 10,000 Australians were killed or wounded or taken
prisoner of war in two battles on 11 April and 3 May
against enemy defences at Bullecourt. By the end of
1917 another 60,000 had become casualties.
Almost 300,000 Australians served on the Western
Front, where 45,000 lost their lives and more than
one-third of those have no known grave.
Mr Tehan today made an address and laid a wreath at
an Anzac Day ceremony at the Digger Memorial in
Bullecourt.
“In Australia’s wartime history there is no year more
tragic than 1917,” Mr Tehan said.
“Here at the Digger Memorial, a symbol of the almost
300,000 Australians who served on the Western Front
between 1916 and 1918, we pause to remember the terrible
ordeal the Australian Imperial Force and the Australian
nation endured a century ago.”
