Dorrigo residents attending today's Remembrance Day Service received the good news that their town's war memorial will be replaced before Christmas.
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The monument, a World War One soldier standing six metres above a sandstone memorial carrying the names of all Plateau men who died in war, marked the centre of town for 99 years.
The actual soldier escaped with little damage after landing on the roof of the vehicle. Locals said he defended his post to very end.
Secretary of the Dorrigo Sub Branch of the RSL, Bob Denner, told people attending the service the monument and soldier had been largely repaired and was expected to be in place by mid December.
In the meantime, the intersection where the monument stood has been replaced by a large roundabout making driving in the centre of town, safer and much easier.
Today's service was held in the gardens of Dorrigo RSL Club.
Bob Denner spoke of white crosses which are part of every remembrance held in the town.
"Each one represents someone that Dorrigo has lost in time of war," he said.
"We have placed dozens more at the site of the Dorrigo monument in respect of its absence.
"They are symbolic of the 62,000 of our countrymen who made the supreme sacrifice in the First World War and those who died in other conflicts.
"There are 47 names from World War One, 25 names from World War Two and one from the Korean War on that monument.
"We remember those from Dorrigo who died.
"Last year, prior to the centenary of the Armistice, ten brass plaques commemorating Australia's engagement in wars from the Boer War to Afghanistan, and peacekeeping, were placed at the base of the ten trees in the main street of Dorrigo.
"A World War Two plaque commemorating the 75th anniversary of the end of that war has been placed on the post. It is the famous Sydney Dancing Man."
