MORE than 100 people turned out to commemorate Remembrance Day in Portland yesterday.

The gathering was well spread out around the War Memorial on Cliff St, with several people on the roadsides as well.

Deacon Alan Ford got the commemoration underway by reciting two prayers before Portland Secondary College acting captains Elijah Roberts and Hamish Drew both spoke about what Remembrance Day meant, both to them and the community.

“The words that come to mind when I think of Remembrance Day are sacrifice and bravery,” Elijah said.

“To know people my age fought for the freedoms that I have today.”

Hamish spoke along similar lines.

“(Remembrance Day) allows me to think about the impacts of war and those who served and felt those impacts so we didn’t have to,” he said.

“It shows just how lucky we are today – because of those brave people we can stand here.”

The impacts of war on those who survived but later took their own lives after trying to deal with the trauma were also a focus of the commemoration, said Portland RSL president Geoff White.

One of the 10 wreaths laid was on behalf of those victims – the wreath was laid by Vietnam veteran and RSL support officer Keith Compt.

The others were for World War I (Sue Miller), World War II (Army veteran Bob Chandler), Korean War (Afghanistan veteran Will Handbury), Malayan Emergency (Malayan veteran Mike Pitman), Vietnam (Ellen Linke, Army veteran whose late husband served there), Afghanistan (Iraq veteran Hayley Filipovic), Timor-Leste and UN peacekeeping (Air Force veteran Anne Neller who served in Rwanda), Navy (Navy veteran Eric Thompson) and the Fire Brigade.

The traditional minute’s silence was then observed after Mr White read the Ode to the Fallen.