Friday essay: ‘War has made me a pacifist’. Why are we so reluctant to acknowledge Australia’s anti-war veterans?

Friday essay: ‘War has made me a pacifist’. Why are we so reluctant to acknowledge Australia’s anti-war veterans?

“I have seen enough of the horrors of war, and want peace. War has made me a socialist and a pacifist,” announced Gallipoli veteran and Victoria Cross winner, Hugo Throssell, on Peace Day in 1919. Throssell was shot in the neck on Hill 60 at Gallipoli in 1915 and nearly died from surgical complications. He returned to the frontlines in Egypt in 1917. There, he was reunited with – then lost – his brother Eric, who was killed in action. Throssell …