General News
24 April, 2023
Local returns to his roots to honour fallen friend and veteran
Anzac Day is a commemoration that’s deeply personal for many people, including for Maryborough resident and former servicemen Phil Daniel, who this year is marching for a very special reason in his home town of Broken Hill. Growing up in Broken...
Anzac Day is a commemoration that’s deeply personal for many people, including for Maryborough resident and former serviceman Phil Daniel, who this year is marching for a very special reason in his home town of Broken Hill.
Growing up in Broken Hill, New South Wales, Phil is returning to his roots to march and remember the life of Tommy Coughlin, a veteran of the Second World War.
Just five years old with an older sister and younger brother in 1958, Phil remembers clearly the years that Tommy would share Christmas Day lunch with his family, where he would sit in the corner and cry.
“When we asked our mother why, she just said not to stare and that Tommy had been to the war,” he said.
“I thought about Tommy now and then for a lot of years until in 2021, I looked out through Tommy’s eyes, in a manner of speaking, to see what he was looking at — it struck me, he was looking at us kids all those years ago.
“Tommy was a tough naval man whose whole life was involved in war. He returned from WWII and his wife had died, he had no children and lived alone in the war veteran’s home.
“In us little kids Tommy could see health, joy and happiness, surrounded by love, security and peace and that’s exactly what he had fought for.”
Tommy, who died at the age of 74 in 1966, is buried at the Broken Hill cemetery.
A former infantryman, Phil said marching in his old home town was a way for him to honour Tommy’s memory and service, but also to celebrate the freedom’s we now enjoy.
“Tommy is the reason I’m marching this year, it’s a very emotional story for me,” he said.
“It took a long time but reflecting on why he cried and the sacrifices he had made it clear for me to see and understand the pain these people went through.
“We’ve had wars since then of course, but Tommy’s war was one for the freedom we enjoy today.
“I march to honour those who served before, but I also march to celebrate the winning of the freedom we enjoy as each generation goes by.
“We’re a very affluent and strong, modern country and that’s something to be proud of.”
Phil is the founder of Guardians of the Spirit, a banner for all service personnel to be able to march under at Anzac Day services — with the inaugural march taking place in Maryborough during the town’s Anzac Day service last year.
While an official guardians march has not been organised this year, Phil said the organisation will return to march in High Street in 2024.
“We’re still alive and kicking,” he said.
“People loved it the first year we marched, there was a great deal of support and not one former serviceman or woman I approached said they didn’t want to be involved.
“This has been a year of consolidation for the Guardians of the Spirit and we’ll get bigger and better, different organisations have expressed a desire to get involved which is very positive.
“I don’t want to see Anzac Day disappear, the guardians is about bringing former service people together and giving them a place they can belong.”
For more information on Guardians of the Spirit and their mission, visit guardiansofthespirit. org.au
