General News
11 March, 2025
Soldier sacrifice remembered
Researching the records of district soldiers has become a joint project between Rainbow Archives & Historical Society, Rainbow RSL and Rainbow P-12 College.
This week the trio begins work on the collaboration, which is timed to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II this year.
The three groups have agreed that a combined effort to mark the sacrifices of local servicemen by bringing their names and contributions to public attention will be a fitting tribute.
As the first step, the college class of Mrs Gregory is researching the stories of Rainbow district soldiers killed during the war.
The students are being assisted by Allira Roberts and other members of the archive, and archive and RSL resources are being made available to them.
"Our cenotaph includes the names of 18 men who gave their lives during the 1939–45 conflict but we now know of at least one more, making 19 stories the students will research," Rainbow Archives & Historical Society's Peter Ralph said.
"We invite relatives or family and friends of the men involved to be part of this project.
"Many readers will recognise well-known Rainbow surnames in our list.
"We would welcome photographs, anecdotes or memorabilia."
The soldiers currently known to have died in service in 1939–45 are:
- Samuel Atchison
- Leonard Arthur Barton
- Harold George Bending
- Charles Laurence Byrne
- Eric Neil Cooper
- Ronald James Cowan
- Lawrence Geoffrey Cowan
- William Rowland Davies
- Thomas George Dellar
- Harold Wardle-Greenwood
- John Leslie Graham
- Thomas Hutchins
- John Alexander Kildea
- William George Martion
- Lyndsay Thomas Newton
- Frederick White Paterson
- Paul Cecil Roll
- Thomas James Roberts
- Richard Wheatlands Sluggett.
Once the material has been gathered, the next step will involve assembling a summary of the research in an easily-readable form with a photograph on an A4 sheet of card and having the 19 pages laminated.
"To bring the work together, the climax of the project will undoubtedly be step three: a fitting and respectful commencement to our annual April 25 remembrance," Mr Ralph said.
"Here these 19 sheets will be the focus of a dawn commemoration on Anzac morning when students, family and friends of the fallen and members of the public will be able to light a candle next to the relevant photograph at our Rainbow cenotaph as a summary of each man's life is read out."
Mr Ralph said the format would be similar to that of 2015 which paid tributed to 41 men who died during World War I.
"The normal 11am Anzac ceremony will still take place as usual, with the guest speaker this year being the highly experienced former SAS soldier Ryan Leffler," Mr Ralph said.