Disappointed with Anzac Day service

I would just like to say how disappointed I was with the Anzac Day service at Woy Woy.

There were ex-service men and women everywhere and yet not one got up to speak on their experiences.

Why they were not asked to speak, I don't know.

All we got was hymns and psalms when we should have heard stories and insights.

My father, like a lot of Australian men and women who served in the Second World War in New Guinea, survived because of courage, luck, a sense of humour and great mateship.

Not because of any religion.

The best part of the whole service was the speech by the young man from Brisbane Water Secondary College who spoke with respect and decency about the landing at Gallipoli.

My 12 year old son asked: "Why didn't God help the Germans, the Japanese and the Turks?"

I have no doubt religion played some part in peoples' lives in these eras but for young kids, listening to hymns and prayers on battlefields and in the hospitals at places like Long Tan, The Kokoda Trail and Gallipoli, wasn't relevant.

We will be looking for somewhere else next year to attend a service that honours the most important people on Anzac Day, the ex-service men and women of Australia and New Zealand.

Email, 3 May 2016

Wayne Lynch, St Huberts Island