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He remained in the air force and rose to the rank of Air Vice Marshal.67 The return of another teacher was not as happy. His nervous disorder forced him to quit teaching.68 Not everyone returned. One student recalled that the death of Mr teacher Harry Fletcher , who had enlisted in the AIF, ‘deeply saddened me, and I truly grieved about him’.69The casualties were
Fletcher survived the blackest days of Gallipoli, where he was wounded, Pozieres and Mouquet Farm in July to September 1916; he won the Military Cross for bravery in October 1916; he survived Bapaume, Bullecourt, Menin Road and Polygon Wood in 1917 and was promoted to the rank of captain. On October 5, 1918 he led his men on one last attack. Despite the knowledge that they were due to be relieved by American troops the following day, the Australian Second Division were sent into the last Australian action of the war to capture the little town of Montbrehain. Soon after 10am, Fletcher was killed by a shell that exploded nearby. The casualties of the great war are honoured on the school’s Honour Roll. Fletcher's name appears with others on a monument (below) to local fallen soldiers in Royal Parade near Melbourne University.
Bronze plaques honouring ex-pupils who had lost their lives in the First World War were also placed at the base of each palm tree planted at Pigdon Street on Arbor day 1924.70 These men and all who died were remembered on Anzac and Armistice Days. On these days, Mylrea allowed the boys to wear their fathers’ medals.71 In time, however, the role of Anzac Day changed. In 1985, the School Council at Princes Hill Primary School resolved that the school’s Anzac Day ceremonies should draw attention to the human cost of warfare, rather than the glorification of war, and should take into account the multicultural nature of the school and society, rather than encourage a patriotic stance.72
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