QLD: Tobruk Rats and Rommel s men now mates

AAP General News (Australia)
04-08-2001
QLD: Tobruk Rats and Rommel s men now mates

Four hundred veteran Rats of Tobruk from Australia, Britain, Poland and Germany celebrated
the 60th anniversary of the famous World War II battle at a special commemorative service
in Brisbane today.

They were among the hundreds of ageing ex-soldiers in Brisbane for the final gathering
of the International Rats of Tobruk Association.

Organiser of the Brisbane reunion, BILL COUSINS, says age is the reason this was the
last meeting of the Rats of Tobruk International Association.

At today's memorial service at Brisbane's Shrine of Remembrance, Veterans Affairs
Minister BRUCE SCOTT said the Siege of Tobruk stood alongside Gallipoli as one of the
milestones in Australia's wartime history.

Britain's wartime leader Sir WINSTON CHURCHILL sent a message in 1941 saying the
Empire is watching your stedfast and spirited defence with gratitude and admiration.

AAP RTV geb/cjh/sb/kb

KEYWORD: TOBRUK (BRISBANE)

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