General News
22 April, 2025
Guardians mark third year
After three years of growth Guardians of the Spirit will be laying a wreath in Maryborough this Anzac Day.
Started in 2022, the informal group offers a symbolic banner all service people can march under, regardless of their deployment or service history.
For Phil Daniel, the group’s founder, being invited by the RSL to lay a wreath is a symbolic moment for the group.
“That is so important, to be accepted by the RSL, even though we’re informal,” he said.
“I think people can see the validity of it going forward.”
While the group doesn’t have members, or a formal structure, servicemen and women can provide their details to be sent a nameplate free of charge.
“You can put your nameplate on, go down to Anzac Day, and there’ll be someone else around you so you can march with them,” he said.
In 2022 the group had made 11 nameplates, now Mr Daniel estimates there’s been around 1000 across Australia.
It’s Mr Daniel’s hope that the group makes it easier for servicemen and women to find their place on Anzac Day.
“It’s a little bit intimidating for a lot of people to walk down to Anzac Day [not knowing where they belong],” he said.
Warren Camm, who served in the army infantry, believes Guardians of the Spirit offers service people a place they belong on Anzac Day when they might not have otherwise.
“There’s a lot of people standing in the crowds of Anzac Day, on the sidelines, who should be out there but they don’t feel worthy,” he said,
The nameplates give these people a place to march, or a way to spot them in the crowd, Mr Camm said.
“They’re standing in the crowd but they’re no longer invisible,” he said.
As veterans get older Mr Daniel hopes the group’s goal of involving more servicemen and women in the Anzac Day march will preserve the tradition for decades to come.
“We’ve got service people starting at 20 and even younger. We encourage them to march. Things have changed, Australia’s changing, as it should,” he said.
For more information on Guardians of the Spirit and their mission, visit https://guardiansofthespirit.com