(4 Jul 1998) English/Nat

On the 80th anniversary of the ending of World War One, the French government has paid tribute to the Australian Anzacs who lost their lives.

Four Australian veterans have made a special trip to France, where they were awarded the highest honour given out by the French.

APTV was with them for the emotional and moving occasion.

Set in the picturesque French countryside of Villers-Bretonneux this memorial stands as a painful and respectful reminder of the thousands of Australians who lost their lives in World War One..

In all 772 headstones surround the Australian National Memorial, just a handful of the 60 thousand Australian men and women who were killed in battle on the Western Front.

Countless families saw fathers and sons go off to war and never return.

And for Australia, a fledgling nation, the loss was immense with few families escaping the horrors of that war.

Australians fought in thirty four battles on the Western Front, but through those times of adversity came bonds of friendship and respect.

France and Australia forged links that have continued over the decades.

And today those links were again renewed with the French government awarding Aussie Anzacs the Legion of Honour (Legion d'Honneur), the nation's highest honour.

Fifty Anzacs were to be awarded, but with many already past away or unable to travel four men -- Ted Smout, Eric Abraham, Charlie Mance and Howard Pope -- proudly accepted them on behalf of themselves and their country.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"The roots have become more and more tenuous, as the years have gone on,m but hopefully they'll never be lost, and I believe that a visit like this, particularly the act of the French president Monsieur Chirac, the thanking Australia for the sacrifice they made, in 1914 to 18, makes me realise that perhaps Europe has not forgotten us."
SUPER CAPTION : John Bradley, 3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment

Joining the French guard of honour was South Australia's 10th and 27th Royal Battalion.

The ceremony is part of a joint programme of commemorations by France and another twenty allied nations to mark the eightieth anniversary of the end of World War One.

The fourth of July was chosen, as it is the anniversary of the Battle of Hamel, a victory planned by the Commander of the Australian Corps, Lieutenant General John Monash.

That victory became a classic model for subsequent Allied attacks.

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