WE WILL REMEMBER THEM
LEST WE FORGET
Gidday Wicky. Like you mate, I didn't attend a Dawn Service, I didn't have the time...I had to go to another service at 0800 at one of the local RSLs.
ANZAC Day in Australia and New Zealand is a tradition, however, it is a tradition that is celebrated in many places around the world.
For those that are not aware of ANZAC Day and what it means to us...the word ANZAC is actually an acronym meaning
Australian
New
Zealand
Army
Corps.
The legend was forged in the heights of the Gallipoli Peninsula of Turkey during WW I. The Australian and New Zealand units landed on 25th April 1915. Units from many countries landed in various places along the Gallipoli Peninsula in order to secure Turkey from the Germans. Countries involved were Britian, France, Canada, Newfoundland, India Australia and New Zealand.
ANZAC Day
Those in charge of the invasion force had varying degrees of military prowess, consequently the invasion was a total failure. ANZAC Day celebtrates not the failure of the campaign, but the forging of two nations, and a bond between Australia and New Zealand that will hold for centuries.
The valour and tenacity of these troops was recognised by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk who later penned an oath to Australian women.
THOSE HEROES THAT SHED THEIR BLOOD
AND LOST THEIR LIVES... YOU ARE
NOW LYING IN THE SOIL OF A FRIENDLY
COUNTRY. THEREFORE REST IN PEACE.
THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE
JOHNNIES AND MEHMETS TO US
WHERE THEY LIE SIDE BY SIDE HERE IN
THIS COUNTRY OF OURS... YOU, THE
MOTHERS, WHO SENT THEIR SONS FROM
FARAWAY COUNTRIES WIPE AWAY YOUR
TEARS; YOUR SONS ARE NOW LYING IN
OUR BOSOM AND ARE IN PEACE. AFTER
HAVING LOST THEIR LIVES ON THIS LAND
THEY HAVE BECOME OUR SONS AS WELL.'
KEMAL ATATURK
Thanks for opening this thread Wicky.
Cheers, Vince