Anzac Day Today

[Andre]

They Shall Grow Not Old
As We Who Are Left Grow Old
Age Shall Not Weary Them
Nor The Years Condem
At The Going Down Of The Sun
And In The Morning
We Shall Remember Them.
+ Lest We Forget +

[CFH]

Any particular reason it's today? I'm afraid I am not well versed in Aussie history. In Canada, we have Rememberance Day on Nov. 11, at 11am. It was origionally to commemmerate the end of WW1, but following WW1 it became a day to remember all Canadian soldiers who have perished in the line of duty. Amazingly enough, almost everyone wears poppies and turns out for the services.

Here's to all the brave Aussies who have died serving their nation. Rest In Peace.

[CFH]

In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD ( 1872-1918 )
Canadian Army

IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

[Andre]

ANZAC Day – 25 April – is probably Australia's most important national occasion. It marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War. ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. The soldiers in those forces quickly became known as ANZACs, and the pride they soon took in that name endures to this day.
Why is this day special to Australians?

When war broke out in 1914 Australia had been a federal commonwealth for only 14 years. The new national government was eager to establish its reputation among the nations of the world. In 1915 Australian and New Zealand soldiers formed part of the allied expedition that set out to capture the Gallipoli peninsula to open the way to the Black Sea for the allied navies. The plan was to capture Constantinople (now Istanbul), the capital of the Ottoman Empire and an ally of Germany. They landed at Gallipoli on 25 April, meeting fierce resistance from the Turkish defenders. What had been planned as a bold stroke to knock Turkey out of the war quickly became a stalemate, and the campaign dragged on for eight months. At the end of 1915 the allied forces were evacuated after both sides had suffered heavy casualties and endured great hardships. Over 8,000 Australian soldiers were killed. News of the landing at Gallipoli made a profound impact on Australians at home and 25 April quickly became the day on which Australians remembered the sacrifice of those who had died in war.
Although the Gallipoli campaign failed in its military objectives of capturing Constantinople and knocking Turkey out of the war, the Australian and New Zealand actions during the campaign bequeathed an intangible but powerful legacy. The creation of what became known as the "ANZAC legend" became an important part of the national identity of both nations. This shaped the ways they viewed both their past and future.
Early commemorations

The date, 25 April, was officially named ANZAC Day in 1916 and was marked by a wide variety of ceremonies and services in Australia, a march through London, and a sports day in the Australian camp in Egypt. In London over 2,000 Australian and New Zealand troops marched through the streets. A London newspaper headline dubbed them "The knights of Gallipoli". Marches were held all over Australia in 1916. Wounded soldiers from Gallipoli attended the Sydney march in convoys of cars, attended by nurses. For the remaining years of the war, ANZAC Day was used as an occasion for patriotic rallies and recruiting campaigns, and parades of serving members of the AIF were held in most cities.
During the 1920s ANZAC Day became established as a national day of commemoration for the 60,000 Australians who died during the war. The first year in which all states observed some form of public holiday together on ANZAC Day was 1927. By the mid-1930s all the rituals we today associate with the day – dawn vigils, marches, memorial services, reunions, two-up games – were firmly established as part of ANZAC Day culture.
With the coming of the Second World War, ANZAC Day was used to also commemorate the lives of Australians lost in that war. In subsequent years the meaning of the day has been further broadened to include Australians killed in all the military operations in which Australia has been involved.
ANZAC Day was first commemorated at the Memorial in 1942 but, due to government orders preventing large public gatherings in case of Japanese air attack, it was a small affair and was neither a march nor a memorial service. ANZAC Day has been annually commemorated at the Memorial ever since.
What does it mean today?

Australians recognise 25 April as an occasion of national commemoration. Commemorative services are held at dawn – the time of the original landing – across the nation. Later in the day, ex-servicemen and women meet and join in marches through the major cities and many smaller centres. Commemorative ceremonies are held at war memorials around the country. It is a day when Australians reflect on the many different meanings of war.
Dawn Service

The Dawn Service observed on ANZAC Day has its origins in an operational routine which is still observed by the Australian Army today. During battle, the half-light of dawn was one of the most favoured times for an attack. Soldiers in defensive positions were, therefore, woken up in the dark, before dawn, so by the time first light crept across the battlefield they were awake, alert, and manning their weapons. This was, and still is, known as "stand-to". It was also repeated at sunset.

[Dizaster]

My dad's grandad actually died during that campaign.. He was up early this morning polishing his dad's medals and shining his shoes etc, as he goes in one of the marches.. My dad's dad also died in a later war. So today means I lot to him I suppose to reflect on what he had to give up to war.

From what i've heard (which ashamadly, is not a huge amount), it was on the 25th of April, in early morning, that our soldiers arrived on the shores of ANZAC cove. Very similar to the start of Saving Private Ryan,,,, or that one campaign in many of the Call of Duty/Medal of Honor games where you come off the boats and are immediately attacked.
Many soldiers never even made it only the beach. Their boats/people carriers were shot and destroyed before they made it to dry land, and died in the water..


Many Australians travel over to Gallipoli each year, and stay over night the 24th of April camping out in the cove where the troops arrived at the break of dawn the next morning. They have a very big service there at dawn, around the time the first troops landed their and died back in 1915.

I would love to go over their sometime in the future. Most people that have been there say that the atmosphere there in the freezing morning, and imaging all the troops were laying in mud,rain, and getting pelted with bullets while trying to dig trenches and just survive.. It would be a sobbering experience..

[CFH]

Thanks for the info guys.
Dizaster: it sounds like your family has made great sacrifices in the name of Australia.
My great-grandfather was a Canadian tank commander in WW2, he was wounded twice in action.

[Dizaster]

Thanks for the info guys.
Dizaster: it sounds like your family has made great sacrifices in the name of Australia.
My great-grandfather was a Canadian tank commander in WW2, he was wounded twice in action.

It's easy for me to forget as I obviously never met my grandfather... I remember when I was about 7, we went on holidays, and on the way went to a big war memorial building and found their names on the walls there.. The place was filled with thousands and thousands of name..
World Wars were in a way, essential, but such a waste for so many families..

[Salty]

I went to the local dawn service today, plan to make it a regular feature. It's not often we as a society thank people which gave so much for this country at such a high cost.

Lest we forget

[Andre]

In reality they all did it for the whole worlds freedom firstly, but when they arrived and the reality set in ; they all fought more for their mates around them.

My Grandad was a rear gunner in a Lancaster and another type of bomber too, lonely job out there on the tail .

My other Granddad was a truckie out in the sahara and got enphzema from all the dust which took one lung and then his life eventually.
He used to send my gran love poems from the front and they are in the war memorial in Canberra , even though he was in the British army.

[pacfan]

The local newspaper Manila Bulletin had an entire page featuring Anzac day celebration. I read Australia lost about 8000 and NZ about 2700 soldiers in Galipoli. That's about same as the the number of US soldiers lost (around 13000) in the Battle of Okinawa - place where I grew up. Galipoli - was that the movie starring Mel Gibson about an athlete serving as an errand-boy soldier shuttling between trenches in WWI?