Re: Remembering the Homecoming

Date: March 26, 2004

"On Anzac Day the sacrifices made by Australians like Eric Edwards are publicly recognised in marches across the country.

Like many young men from Victoria, Mr Edwards joined the 2/21st regiment and trained at the Shepparton Showgrounds before being sent to Darwin in 1941 for further training.

Deployed to the Indonesian island of Ambon, he was immediately in the thick of things, up against the might of the Japanese army.

After a fierce three-day battle which claimed many lives, Mr Edwards and others from his regiment were captured and held prisoner.

He survived the initial terror but was forced to spend more than three years in atrocious conditions at a Prisoner of War camp on Ambon.

On his return, Mr Edwards weighed just 40 kg and spent a number of months in the Heidelberg Military Hospital in Melbourne recovering from injuries and malnutrition.

Good friends with his future wife Peg before leaving for the war, Mr Edwards was among a number of former POWs to be paraded through the city, a day which Mrs Edwards remembers vividly.

"You couldn't get near Spencer St Station, it was so packed as people waited to see them," Mrs Edwards said.

"He was on the last carriage and when I saw him get off, I yelled his name and he turned and waved. I will never forget it."

Mr Edwards eventually returned to health and the couple made a home on an orchard at Ballarat, before retiring to Shepparton in 1970. He died in 1999.

Mrs Edwards treasures the picture of her husband in uniform, keeping it on the mantelpiece at home.

She will offer it for publication in The News' Anzac Day souvenir picture special "Anzac Day - A tribute to those who served."

"You can never forget what the people have done for their country and the sacrifices that were made."

 
©Shepperton News"