A mourning bride-to-be clinging to a muddied photo album is an image that Neil Maher is unlikely to forget.
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The emergency services officer was among the handful of local personnel sent to help in the aftermath of the tsunami that devastated Japan last year.
Speaking at a memorial service in the Canberra-Nara Park yesterday, Mr Maher said volunteers were met with a scene of total destruction.
Surrounded by diplomats, locals and those personally affected by the disaster, he spoke of working in the Minami area after it was ''almost totally wiped off the map''.
''We went there to rescue people yet pulled no one alive from the rubble and faced such devastation,'' he said.
''Sometimes when people have lost everything, there is nothing you can do for them but show you care.''
The Japanese ambassador to Australia, Shigekazu Sato, also addressed the crowd, thanking Australians for their support over the past 12 months and urging people to remember those still recovering from the disaster.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard recalled yesterday being deeply affected by scenes of ''unimaginable destruction'' that faced her as the first foreign leader to visit the tsunami disaster zone in Japan.
She praised the Japanese people for their courage in rebuilding their lives.
''This is a day of painful memories for the Japanese people and on behalf of all Australians, I express my heartfelt condolences to those who lost loved ones in this terrible tragedy,'' she said.