Debi Kitt is big on history and noticed a need for displays surrounding Anzac Day, so she took things into her own hands.
In the Allan St window are medals, uniforms, flags and other Anzac memorabilia belonging to her husband, Gary Kitt, and her late grandmother, Joan Wallace, and grandfather, Jack Wallace.
Mr Wallace served in the army in the Kokoda Trail campaign in 1942 and in the 1948 Palestine war; you can see his uniform and medals displayed in the window.
“If we don’t remember it, no-one is going to remember it.”
Mrs Kitt said her grandfather did not talk about his experiences in the war, and she did not know that he served in the Kokoda campaign until she came across an invitation her grandmother received for the opening of the Kokoda Memorial in Canberra.
“You know, he wouldn’t tell us anything — he kept everything to himself,” she said.
“When my grandmother died, we found a suitcase with all the invites and everything, and that’s when we found out about Palestine and found the original Palestinian flag and everything.”
Mrs Kitt recalls Anzac Day with her grandfather as “a very serious and important day for them”.
“On the day, there was no mucking about … then when all the formalities are over, different people start to come together, and you could see him having a drink, laughing and carrying on,” she said.
“It’s a very important day of remembering for them.”
Her husband, Mr Kitt, started as a navy officer in 1985 and served for 20 years at sea before retiring as a chief in 2002.
Mrs Kitt, who has owned the Boomerang Travel Centre for 28 years, said it was important to remember local Anzac heroes.
“If we don’t remember it, no-one’s going to remember it,” she said
“It’s amazing how many people have come in and gone ‘Oh my god, that’s fantastic’,” she said.
Mr Kitt is the president of the Girgarre RSL, Mr Wallace died in his late 60s when Mrs Kitt was 21 years old, and Mrs Wallace lived to 94.
Anzac Day takes place on April 25, so check out the nearest service to you.
