Memorial Walk

What the memorial plaques mean to a veteran Old Aquinian. “The place where they proudly wore the red and black”

We know that these Memorial Plaques will connect the boys at Aquinas today to those old boys who served their country at War.

Be it the legend and tragedy of Lieutenant Aleric Pinder Boor from World War One, and I note descendants of Pinder Boor’s family are here with us tonight; or be it through the many hundreds of Aquinians who served in World War One, World War Two, Korea, Borneo, Vietnam and more recently in East Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan; it is through these plaques that we remember our old boys for their service and we honour those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

These Memorial Plaques also connect those Old Aquinian veterans to the present. The College has evolved over the past 126 years. The buildings, location and administrations have changed over time, but one thing has not changed, one thing has remained the same since 1894, and that is that we all wore the red and black with pride and we carried that red and black pride with us as we served our country.

I note that Brigadier Rod Curtis AM MC is with us here tonight. An old boy from 1957, Brigadier Curtis was awarded the Military Cross for leadership and bravery in Borneo. He is also a Vietnam Veteran and a former Commanding Officer of the Special Air Service Regiment. Plus, to our more recent veterans, I see Peter and Trish Spencer here tonight – no doubt representing their son Stephen, a former Commando and two-times Veteran of the Afghanistan conflict. These Memorial Plaques are more than a respectful memorial to our soldiers, sailors and airmen, they enable us to connect the hundreds of old boys through time who served their country at war.

Most importantly, the memorial plaques link our veterans back to our school today. Because it is through these plaques that the duty of our old boys, who served and who died at war, are linked back to the place that meant so much to them in their youth. Be it from their time at CBC on the Terrace or here at Mount Henry, it links them to the place where they proudly wore the red and black.

by Colonel Sean L’Estrange MLA, Class of 1985