HALKETT HEROES.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 16726, 8 January 1920, Page 4

HALKETT HEROES.

MEMORIAL UNVEILED.

On Sunday afternoon, at the Presbyterian Church, a handsomo memorial recently crcctod in memory of the two soldiers from the district who lost their lives on ar-tivo servico, was unveiled. The memorial is grey gram to obelisk, mounted on threo concrete steps. The monument stands ten feet high, and has been given a commanding position fronting the Church. The stone is inscribed as follows:-— In loving memory of Gunnrr George Gordon McKay, who was killed, in liccolaire sector, in Franco, January 2-4, 1918; aped '27 years. Interred at Butt© cemetery. "Greater lovo hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend." In loving memory of Trooper W'm. Henderson, who died at Damascus, October 19, 1918; rr«l 33 years. Interred at Damascus cemetery. They gavo tlieir lives—it wis their all— That freedom still might live. No greater love, no greater gift, Hath any man to givo. Erected by their friends. Mr J. Calder, in unveilinc the monument, referred to the fact that as tliera was no fitting public place in the district, the memorial had boon erccted in the churchyard, to which both soldiers belonged. The subscriptions to the cost of tho stone camo from every settler in tho district. Mr G. T. Robertson said tho boys whom they had all known from childhood, had gone out to save the land of their birth from foreign aggression. How much that meant to us to-day was hardly realised. It was fitting that their'memory should bo cherished. Tho Rev. *.T. A. Brown, in a brief address, remarked that the British as a nation had ever stood for freedom and liberty. The Napoleonic war was a typical example, and tho last great war had also called up all tho fighting instincts of our race. Might had challenged Right, and by tho blessing of Providence Might had been crushed, broken and humiliated. Tho weapons He used to overthrow Might had been our sons and brothers. Tho young men had freely offered themselves on the altar of the country's servico. For each one who had died we should remember the sacrifice of a life to duty, to right and to truth. The memorial unveiled would stimulate the younger generations to hold dear tho glorious heritage of freedom so dearly won. Tho bereaved mothers would find consolation in that their sons had won for the world tho liberty it enjoyed to-day.