WHEREVER Walking Wounded founder Brian Freeman goes in his Great Traverse around three continents, 41 fallen soldiers go with him.
He is carrying a Roll of Honour with the names of the 41 Australian casualties in the Afghanistan conflict.
Brian can rattle their names off by heart – and their parents, many of whom have joined him on various legs of the seven month journey from Everest, down the length of Australia and finishing by climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa.
He reckons we should all know their names and hopes one day we will.
Brian had hoped to lay 41 poppies in their honour on the top of the world. He and the team began their journey in April and on Anzac Day this year found themselves at Base Camp in Everest the day the earthquake struck, killing 22 on the mountain and 20,000 overall.
They were stranded on the mountain and had to jog on the spot to stay alive. He was still determined to make the ascent, but could not. For the first year since the mountain was first conquered, no one made the summit.
The Traverse team was hosted at a fundraising event in the city on Saturday night by Cranbourne businessmen Silvio Marinelli and Joe Hackett, who joined one of the Kokoda treks, and arrived in Pakenham for lunch, before heading to Kooweerup Secondary College for a breakfast event sponsored by the local Bendigo Community Bank branch on Monday morning.
When they get to the southern edge of Tasmania, Brian and the team will lay 41 poppies down, just as they did at Cape York at the start of the Great Traverse.
“One day I will lay those poppies on Everest too,” he vowed.
– GARRY HOWE
