AUSTRALIAN SOLDIER STANDS GUARD IN FRONT OF MONUMENT MARKING THE ANNIVERSARY OF BATTLE OF CRETE,...

An Australian soldier stands guard in front of a podium which reads " Their service, Our heritage ", at a monument in the Cretan town of Rethymno, where an unveiling ceremony of a Greek-Australian memorial plaque took place May 19, 2001, during the celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Crete. In 1941 hundreds of German planes droned across the Mediterranean coastline, disgourging thousands of crack paratroops in an airborne invasion at the Greek island. A few hundred Allied veterans of the battle will gather on the island with their local counterparts this weekend to mark the anniversary with parades, wreath layings and a reenactment. YK