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1 May, 2026
ANZAC DAY 2026: Sharing soldier’s stories and advice at Charlton service
“I WISH I’d taken the long way home... to hear the whole story, the only story he ever told me.”
“I WISH I’d taken the long way home... to hear the whole story, the only story he ever told me.”
Aircraftsman Kenneth Neil McGillivray only had one memory to hold onto when he followed his father’s footsteps to fight for his country.
The guest speaker at Charlton’s Anzac Day service remembered taking over the wheel from his father, who had had too much to drink, before he opened up about his time at war.
“I was 14 at the time,” Mr McGillivray said.
“The theory was that you don’t talk to returned servicemen about the war, don’t bring the memories back.”
After a “pretty lady in an aircraft uniform” visited school in Charlton, Mr McGillivray enlisted in March, 1973.
He trained in South Australia and NSW before serving in the Laverton Vic Aircraft Rersearch and Development team and Edinburgh Aircraft Research and Development team.
He worked as a flight fitter, maintaining aircraft engines and airframes for six years.
Following a sombre wreath laying ceremony under the rising sun and sound of the Last Post, members of many community organisations gathered together to march through Charlton and into the Rex Theatre, where many shared moments of reflection and solitude.
Another with a connection to someone fallen was Buloke Shire Councillor Bruce Stafford, who gave a touching speech about one of his own family members - Vincent Charles Montarola.
“Like many young Australians of his generation, Vincent grew up in the shadow of the First World War,” Cr Stafford said.
“He came of age in a world which would soon be impacted by a second World War.”
In 1936, he enlisted in the Royal Australian Airforce, beginning his service as a fitter before later becoming a wireless and electrical mechanic.
Cr Stafford said during a training exercise over the Blue Mountains, the weather deteriorated and made navigation extremely difficult.
The aircraft came out of the mist and into the side of the mountain, which left both occupants of the plane - including Vincent - dead at just 23 years old.
“There was no battle, no victory or defeat. Just a routine flight, poor weather and two lives lost in service to their country,” he said.
Cr Stafford said, for him, this added even more meaning to Anzac Day.
“It’s not only about those who fell under fire, it’s also about those who served in preperation,” he said. “It reminds us that sacrifice is not only defined by where it occurs.”
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