Lest We Forget (Anzac Day)

[Bruce in West Oz]

I can't even begin to explain what today means to most Australians. The marches, the Last Post, Reveille, the National Anthem, and "My Country"

My Country
by Dorothea McKellar

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror –
The wide brown land for me!

Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the rainbow gold,
For flood and fire and famine
She pays us back threefold.
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze.

Though earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly.

Bravery honoured at Gallipoli
April 25, 2003

IN darkness, Australian backpackers, veterans and Turks gathered at Anzac Cove for the traditional dawn service today.

Amid the tightest security Gallipoli has ever seen for an Anzac Day commemoration, Treasurer Peter Costello painted a picture of that fateful landing 88 years ago.

With light about to break, the young men half a world away from home were gripped by nerves and fear and exhilaration as their boats beached at Gallipoli.

But they could not have imagined the wretched months that lay ahead, the death of their comrades and the suffering.

"The first shots would have shattered any illusions they had about war," he said of the Anzacs.

"One of the men who carried the wounded described it as one of the roughest places on God's earth."

The Anzacs were quickly acquainted with suffering and death.

"The Anzacs would never command the heights which were the key to controlling the Peninsula," Mr Costello said.

"They dug in against impossible odds and held it.

"When they successfully withdrew, over 8,000 had lost their lives.

"They were young. They had everything to live for but they died in the service of their country and their fellow citizens."

The Anzacs have been credited with forging Australia's identity and for giving the nation a consciousness.

Until the Anzacs, Australia's story was one of settlement, colony and federation, Mr Costello said.

The treasurer later delivered a speech at the Lone Pine Memorial on the Gallipoli Peninsula, a place of carnage and bravery.

"It has been said that the dead were so thick on the ground that the only respect that could be shown was to avoid treading on their faces," he said.

More than 4,000 Australians and 700 New Zealanders with no known graves are commemorated at Lone Pine.

With the help of Australian authorities, the Turkish government boosted security amid warnings terrorists would strike.

Anzac Cove was surrounded by police and Turkish troops but Mr Costello warned young Australians who had made the pilgrimage to Turkey to be mindful of their safety elsewhere.

"Australians should still be careful about their personal security," he said in a radio interview.

"It's a difficult period, but I can assure you that the government is putting in place measures to ensure that security is much, much tighter than it's ever been."

People laugh when we say "Mate", but this is where it came from. No Aussie ever leaves his mate behind. You call someone "Mate", and you'll stand by him through thick and thin -- whatever it takes.

That's why I call you my American mates.

Cheers, my friends

Bruce

 

[Nightcrawler]

It's hard to think up greetings for these kind of holidays. I mean, here in the States, it sounds funny when you say "Happy Independence Day".

Nontheless, Happy Anzac Day. Never forget those who have fallen.

 

[El Tejon]

It is good to have mates in our struggle against the New Barbary pirates (Turks). Sending best wishes across the ocean.

 

[45King]

G'day to you, Bruce. A solemn and heartfelt "Thank you" to all the brave Anzacs who have served the cause of Liberty, especially to those who gave all. Mates indeed.

Gorgeous photos! I've got to get there one day and see this for myself. It's a funny thing; Australia is the only foreign country I have any desire to visit.

 

[Greg L]

It's a funny thing; Australia is the only foreign country I have any desire to visit.

Me too (although after seeing LOTR I might have to pop over to NZ while I'm in that corner of the globe ).

Anzac Cove was surrounded by police and Turkish troops but Mr Costello warned young Australians who had made the pilgrimage to Turkey to be mindful of their safety elsewhere.

"Australians should still be careful about their personal security," he said in a radio interview.

Given what the government is doing to you at home, the irony is amazing. :banghead:

Greg

 

[Bruce in West Oz]

Greg

Yes, that's true -- BUT -- we had received warnings that Australians would be targeted by suicide bombers at Gallipoli.

I think that's what he's talking about.

(Apart from that, you're dead right.)

Bruce

 

[Stevie-Ray]

Best wishes from the Great Lake State.

 

[Mark Tyson]

Beautiful country, beautiful song. Aussies have stood by us Yanks through thick and thin - and have paid the price for it, at Bali among other places. I salute all the hallowed dead of the Australian armed forces, and wish your country Godspeed.

 

[Azrael256]

It's a funny thing; Australia is the only foreign country I have any desire to visit.

Y'know, it's funny, I've never considered Britain, Canada, New Zealand, or Australia to be "foreign." We all speak (more or less) the same language, we have many of the same values and traditions, and we all stick together when it counts. Australia is one of the few countries that I consider to be a true friend and ally.

Australians, the world is a better place because of you. We wouldn't have made it this far without you. Thanks

 

[CZ-75]

But isn't ANZAC day supposed to be anti-muslim and racist?


I keep reading some bleating from the leftists Down Under about this.

Didn't a few schools and local govts. choose to not celebrate ANZAC day down there?

 

[ahenry]

Australia and Australians have always had a warm place in my heart; they remind me of Texas and Texans.

That's why I call you my American mates.

Australia epitomizes what a “mate†is in their actions towards America and I can assure you that this is one American that won’t ever forget it either. I hope Australia never needs us to return the favor, but if you do, I can only hope we will respond with as much courage and steadfastness as y’all have.


Here’s one from me to y’all.

 

[RTFM]

Bruce in West Oz, Until today, I never knew there was an ANZAC Day, or what ANZAC was. (Heck until today I did not even this forum existed(new member today)) This will give me some thing to remember.

What I can discern is that ANZAC Day is like our U.S. Memorial day.

Anzac Day in New Zealand is held on 25 April each year to commemorate New Zealanders killed in war and to honour returned servicemen and women. The day has similar importance in Australia, New Zealand's partner in the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps at Gallipoli. The ceremony itself has been continually adapted to the times, but has also steadily acquired extra layers of symbolism and meaning.
The Dawn Service
A typical commemoration begins with a march by returned service personnel before dawn to the local war memorial. Military personnel and returned service-men and -women form up about the memorial, joined by other members of the community, with pride of place going to the war veterans. A short service follows with a prayer, hymns (including Kipling's 'Recessional' or 'Lest We Forget'), and a dedication which concludes with the last verse of Laurence Binyon's 'For the Fallen':
They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
The Last Post is then played, followed by a minute's silence and Reveille. A brief address follows, after which the hymn 'Recessional' is sung. The service concludes with a closing prayer and the singing of the National Anthem.

Apparently is is more like our U.S. holidays than I thought

During the 1960s substantial changes occurred in Anzac Day commemorations. Calls to liberalise Anzac Day, unthinkable in the early 1950s, became increasing vocal, given impetus by the apparent double standard of returned servicemen and women enjoying their traditional Anzac Day 'booze up' while the general public was denied access to entertainment in hotels or cinemas.

LOL

ANZAC is the acronym for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, the formation created in December 1914 by grouping the Australian Imperial Force and New Zealand Expeditionary Force stationed in Egypt under the command of Lieutenant-General William Birdwood. Initially the term 'Australasian Corps' had been mooted for this force, but there was a reluctance among both Australians and New Zealanders to lose their separate identities completely.

source: http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/Gallery/Anzac/Anzac.htm

Anzac Day takes on a global significance
April 25 2003
By Bridie Smith


With Australian troops in active service around the globe - serving in Iraq, the Middle East, East Timor and Bougainville - Anzac day 2003 is being marked on a global scale.
Australia's defence chief General Peter Cosgrove was in the Persian Gulf on board the warship HMAS Kanimbla.
General Cosgrove said he was marking the occasion with the "modern Anzacs" and would attend a dawn service on the flight deck with hundreds of sailors.
"I think it is going to be very special as the sun rises above the gulf," General Cosgrove told ABC Radio.
General Cosgrove, who has been touring Australian forces in the gulf, said this Anzac Day was as significant for him as the one he spent serving in the jungles of Vietnam.

Source: http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/04/25/1050777388786.html

I’d be honored to have you call me MATE and I’d gladly put my back to yours and take on all comers that think national pride, and pride in ones fallen solders is a thing of the past. You are right. Lest we forget. I’m a 10 year veteran of our U.S. Army, and I find out today that there is a day honoring the ANZAC’s.
You were with us in WWII, Vietnam and are with us today in Iraq. I thank you for your support of our troops too, mate.
I apologize for the long post. But anyone who remembers there soldiers is a brother in arms with me. Have a great day Bruce.
(What would be the correct greeting for Anzac day?)

RTFM

 

[Dannyboy]

I've been all over the world and I have to say that Australia is, by far, the coolest place I have been. And, might I add, Gallipoli was a great movie.

 

[nemesis]

I have had the honor of being present at the Australian National War Memorial, at sunset, and respectfully braced to attention for the playing of The Last Post.

In the morning and at the going down of the sun........

We will remember them.