A.N.Z.A.C. Day 25th APRIL

zeb

The 25th April is the day Australia and New Zealand remember their war dead.

On the 25th April 1915 troops from many nations including Australian and New Zealanders landed on the shores of Turkey. The ANZAC forces at a place called Gallipoli or Galliboli by the Turkish people.

The concept was to land move inland attack Constantinople and there by force Turkey out of the war (1914-1918) and bring it too a swift end. The whole operation was a monumental stuff up with the ANZACS being landed in the wrong place up against steep cliffs. For those interested in history this account makes compelling reading.

So out of respect for the Aussies and Kiwis who fought and died the 25th remembers them and all servicemen and women who were killed in wars and 'peace-keeping' operations.

The term A.N.Z.A.C. is an acronym of Australia and New Zealand Army Corp.

"they shall not 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."

humbled

I got educated about it, zeb. From some few remarks l read of Turks the ANZAC drew admiration from them for their bravery and grit. But what a loss. A tragedy.

zeb

humbled. My thanks.

Anyone else? The first ground attack by Americans in the great war was at a place called Bellieu Wood and their mentors on the ground were Australians. There wont be too many Americans who know that. One American at that time said to a German POW. "Do you think you will win this war?" and he replied, "Of course we have God on our side."

The American replied "So you do, do you? We have the Australians."

freddo

Might be of interest ... from ABC News (Australia)

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-04/harvey-broadbent-tells-turkish-side-of-gallipoli-story/6279772

Xanthippe

Interesting thanks Zeb. As usual the generals back home safe in their ivory towers stuff up and people die on the battlefield

smiddy3

Thanks for this post zeb

The 25th April is the day Australia and New Zealand remember their war dead.

So out of respect for the Aussies and Kiwis who fought and died the 25th remembers them and all servicemen and women who were killed in wars and 'peace-keeping' operations.

I was one of the "lucky " ones who was balloted out of being called up for national service when I was 18 years old in 1957 and was "saved" from being sent to Vietnam.I wasn`t a J.W. then either .

I do have a lot of pride and respect for those who did serve in one capacity or another in both the World Wars whether they were male or female .

If not for them who knows what type of Government or tyranny I would be living under if not for the sacrifices they made at the time to prevent those invaders from succeeding.

Thank you to the men and women who gave their lives so that we could live the " freedom" we take for granted today.

shepherdless

My ancestors were all Roman Catholic, and in Australia, Roman Catholics were heavily discouraged from enlisting, during WW1. The Catholic Church also successfully campaigned to block conscription at the time. The following wikipedia article gives a bit of the history:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I_conscription_in_Australia

Amongst my ancestors, and their near relatives, only one man enlisted to fight in WW1. He fought in France for a good portion of the war. His record shows he was injured twice, and he was in trouble for insubordination at one stage. He survived but needed a walking stick for the rest of his life. He died in his 90's. He never talked about it.

One of the stories I heard was that when he returned from WW1, he would never attend church on Sunday mornings. He would sit outside during the whole service, reading newspapers, while his family was inside. That went on for years, before a very dominant wife managed to get him back into attending.

The anti-war attitude in my family pervaded into WW2. Again only one of them enlisted and, I gather from how it was described to me as a kid, that he was very much frowned upon by his relatives for doing so. He never returned. I gather that my ancestors never bothered to find out the details, but I looked them up from military records. It appears that he died with the rank of Corporal during the Battle of Alemain, on a day when the Australians lost a lot of lives (around 80 from memory) capturing an important German position.

I presume that this relative is buried in a war grave in Egypt. I am sure that none of his relatives or their descendants have ever visited, or even knew anything about the sacrifice he made.