Battle of Crete war veteran Arthur Leggett turns 100
Greek Culture, SOCIETY
Arthur Legget, an ANZAC, Battle of Crete veteran and ex-prisoner of war, has celebrated a very special milestone, turning 100 years old earlier this month!
To honour and celebrate Mr. Leggett, earlier this year Mt Lawley Senior High School in Perth where Arthur resides, named the School library after him. School principal Lesley Street said that Arthur "is seriously beloved in this school."
Mr. Leggett who spent four years as a prisoner of Germany in World War II has attended many school assemblies and graduations at the High School ever since 1996 when they revealed their Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial in Kings Park.
"We have 1700-plus students here and Arthur can stand at the front of that assembly and talk to them for 10 minutes and no-one will say a word or do anything except just listen…What's magic about Arthur is that he holds no bitterness to anybody, he looks to do good for everybody and to give back, and he thinks that he's had an extraordinarily lucky life" Lesley stated.
The Arthur Leggett school library, the ANZAC Crete Veteran stated is a treasure, as it is also a tribute to the soldiers he represented. He made note that "the message I've endeavoured to point out to the younger generation is all the privileges they have, a good education, is because many brave men died so that they could have it that way."
The battles for the island of Crete were fought from the second week of May 1941 when the island's British, Commonwealth, and Greek garrison was attacked by German airborne troops. The defender's numerical superiority was eventually overwhelmed by the attacker's massive advantage in logistics and air support. By the end of May organised resistance had broken down. Germans hunted small groups of Allied soldiers abandoned by inadequate evacuation facilities and desperately trying to evade capture.
Tags: Arthur Leggett, Australia, Australian war veteran, Battle of Crete, diaspora, Germany, Greek Australian, Greek history, Nazis, war veteran, world history, world war II
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