IN A rebel-held eastern European war zone lies the body of a Toowoomba grandmother.
Perhaps a white flag marks her resting place, lying among the fields where the twisted remains of MH17 came to rest.
Maybe she was one of those taken away in an unmarked truck, its drivers refusing to tell journalists where they were going. Maybe she is yet to be found. Maybe she will never be found.
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In the aftermath of the massacre, amid chaos, drunken rebel guards and a total lack of any credible investigation, it is difficult to know whether the dead will ever be returned to their grieving families.
Toowoomba’s Jill Guard is a number. She is one of the 298 people killed when their Malaysia Airlines flight was shot down, one of 37 Australians and seven Queenslanders who never made it home.
But more importantly, she was a mother, a grandmother, a doctor, a volunteer, a musician. A woman far removed from the Ukraine fight but died because of it.
Jill spent her European holiday in constant communication with her eldest son Paul. He’d dropped his parents at the airport on June 1 – the dad who brought him up to be inquisitive and the mum who taught him the beauty of making music.
In Amsterdam, Jill and husband Roger (pictured) farewelled Europe and headed for home. Dr Roger Guard headed Toowoomba Base Hospital’s pathology unit. He loved his job. He was proud of the lab he ran and the staff who filled it.
“He was interested in knowing how the world works and fascinated by the endless complexity of nature,’’ Paul said.
Jill was another special person. She was a doctor too. She volunteered for Meals on Wheels and helped Sudanese refugees settle in her town.
“We know that they are proud of their children and we hope we can repay our debt to them by living good lives,’’ Paul said. “We call on the people who carried out this terrible act to put down their weapons and seek a political solution to their problems. Violence is not the solution.’’
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