ANZAC Day. Galipoli 1915

[Zardnaar]

Today April 25 is ANZAC day in New Zealand and Australia. In 1915 men of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corp (ANZAC) hit the beaches at Galipoli to try and knock Turkey out of the war. Anyway it didn't work and it was a bit of a disaster.

Its 6 am over here. I'm off to the dawn parade a ceremony to remember them so I'll finish up later.

Lest We Forget.

 

[Mongoloid Cow]

Lest We Forget

 

[MattE]

Just got back from the Sydney marches. It's really sad to see the ranks thining out more and more each year. Even the Vietnam vets are starting to thin out.

Lest we forget.

 

[Zardnaar]

Originally posted by MattE
Just got back from the Sydney marches. It's really sad to see the ranks thining out more and more each year. Even the Vietnam vets are starting to thin out.

Lest we forget.

It is sad. I don't think we have any WW1 veterans left. The ceremony had the local mayor, member of parliment and a general. Australia and England sent military representitives as well.

 

[Mongoloid Cow]

IIRC there are only a couple of Australian WWI vets left. I hope that the young people will start marching in their grandparents and so forth place more.

 

[Case]

Originally posted by Mongoloid Cow
IIRC there are only a couple of Australian WWI vets left. I hope that the young people will start marching in their grandparents and so forth place more.

Why? I was at the Sydney march yesterday and was disgusted by a small group of people at the end of the march who were marching under the banner of 'decendants of WW1 Veterans'.

Speaking as a decendant of a WW1 veteran myself (not that this is a particularly uncommon distinction - I suspect that 3/4 of the population are decended from a WW1 vet), those people had absolutely no right to take part in a march commemorating the war service of real veterans.

To make matters worse, the smug idiots place in the march was right behind veterans of the South Vietnamese Army, who were as proud and distinguised a group of veterans as I've ever seen.

Personally, I see smaller number of people marching as a good thing - it means that we've engaged in less wars.

 

[Mongoloid Cow]

Case: I see your point, but in a few years time, there will be very few marching as all the World War I and a lot of the World War II vets would have already passed on.

 

[Mrogreturns]

Originally posted by Mongoloid Cow
Case: I see your point, but in a few years time, there will be very few marching as all the World War I and a lot of the World War II vets would have already passed on.

I have to say I agree with Case here, non-veterans should not be marching. In time the numbers will diminish (hopefuly) but you don't need a march to have ANZAC Day.

 

[MattE]

Don't need a march for ANZAC day! I'm shocked! It's tradition started by the WW1 vets themselves and should always take place. I personally believe it should be our national day. I think it's great that the younger relatives of those who have passed or cannot make it march. If the younger people don't march eventually there will be no marching at all and the memory of those fallen will be lost forever. My grandfather marches every year and every year I fear that it will be his last. He's not the man he used to be and every year the march gets harder and harder. When the time does come when he can no longer march I hope he would want me to take his place and keep the ANZAC spirit alive.

I really am shocked at what some of you have said...

A Tribute to ANZAC Day

With their hair a little whiter, their step not quite so sure
Still they march on proudly as they did the year before.
Theirs were the hands that saved us, their courage showed the way
Their lives they laid down for us, that we may live today.

From Gallipoli's rugged hillsides, to the sands of Alamein
On rolling seas and in the skies, those memories will remain.
Of airmen and the sailors, of Lone Pine and Suvla Bay
The boys of the Dardenelles are remembered on this day.

They fought their way through jungles, their blood soaked desert sands
They still remember comrades who rest in foreign lands.
They remember the siege of old Tobruk, the mud of the Kokoda Trail
Some paying the supreme sacrifice with courage that did not fail.
To the icy land of Korea, the steamy jungles of Vietnam
And the heroic battle of Kapyong and that epic victory at Long Tan.

Fathers, sons and brothers, together they fought and died
That we may live in peace together, while at home their mothers cried.
When that final bugle calls them to cross that great divide
Those comrades will be waiting when they reach the other side.

 

[Gingerbread Man]

Originally posted by Case
Why? I was at the Sydney march yesterday and was disgusted by a small group of people at the end of the march who were marching under the banner of 'decendants of WW1 Veterans'.

Speaking as a decendant of a WW1 veteran myself (not that this is a particularly uncommon distinction - I suspect that 3/4 of the population are decended from a WW1 vet), those people had absolutely no right to take part in a march commemorating the war service of real veterans.

To make matters worse, the smug idiots place in the march was right behind veterans of the South Vietnamese Army, who were as proud and distinguised a group of veterans as I've ever seen.

Personally, I see smaller number of people marching as a good thing - it means that we've engaged in less wars.

The whole point of ANZAC day is to remember what our elders did for us. The descendants of the WWI diggers are doing exactly that, remembering. I reckon those descendants did their country proud, by not forgetting what their parents, grandparents or Great Grandparents did for them.

I wore my grandfather's (WWII) medals in the march in Sydney, because people shouldn't forget what he did, even if he is no longer alive.

A smaller number of people marching would just be a sign that we dont really care about the people who are missing, those who, even though they died a generation ago, still did something incredible.

 

[Mrogreturns]

Originally posted by MattE
Don't need a march for ANZAC day! I'm shocked! It's tradition started by the WW1 vets themselves and should always take place. I personally believe it should be our national day. I think it's great that the younger relatives of those who have passed or cannot make it march. If the younger people don't march eventually there will be no marching at all and the memory of those fallen will be lost forever. My grandfather marches every year and every year I fear that it will be his last. He's not the man he used to be and every year the march gets harder and harder. When the time does come when he can no longer march I hope he would want me to take his place and keep the ANZAC spirit alive.

I really am shocked at what some of you have said...

And I am shocked by the idea that its OK to have non-veterens marching in the ANZAC Day parade.

The idea of the march is to show appreciation and respect to the veterens- i.e they match and we non-veterens show our appreciation to them. If there comes a time when there are no more veterens to whom we can directly express our appreciation, then there will no longer be any point in having a march.

However, this does not mean that we forget them- I don't know where you got that idea from anything posted above. The Dawn Service would continue for example.

 

[Mrogreturns]

Originally posted by Gingerbread Man
The whole point of ANZAC day is to remember what our elders did for us. The descendants of the WWI diggers are doing exactly that, remembering. I reckon those descendants did their country proud, by not forgetting what their parents, grandparents or Great Grandparents did for them.

I wore my grandfather's (WWII) medals in the march in Sydney, because people shouldn't forget what he did, even if he is no longer alive.

A smaller number of people marching would just be a sign that we dont really care about the people who are missing, those who, even though they died a generation ago, still did something incredible.

Remember them- of course. Take up their places in the march? No I don't think so.

 

[Gingerbread Man]

By the way, I was actually marching as a musician there, but the point is still the same.

It isn't about who is marching those medals, or that photo of a lost one, down the street. It is the deeds that people did that they represent.

When they are long gone to us, their personalities so distant, we may not be able to remember the people, but at least we can remember the deeds they did. We are showing respect to the veterans by doing this. A dawn service is so impersonal - we remember a group of people as a whole. But the march personalises it all. Each person there is or represents a person that suffered for us. No dawn service, nor a list of names on a wall, can do that.

 

[Mrogreturns]

If people really are incapable of remembering without a parade to help them- then have a photograph of veterens carried by serving soldiers sailers or airmen. You then have your personal representation and using servicemen/ women will stop it from looking like a procession of cattle.

 

[Zardnaar]

I don't think we need a march. I don't think the descendents should wear the medals and march. My great grandfather was in WW1 but I hardly remember him. To me its an insult if I were to wear the medals he earned. If descendents have to march have children do it or carry the medals on cushions or something. I think there would be to many people who would get a kick out of wearing medals their ancestors won. If they want to march, join the army, march in uniform and carry a frame with a photo of your grandfather or something.

 

[rilnator]

Thanks for the Thread Zardnaar.
Lest we forget.

 

[Case]

Originally posted by Gingerbread Man
The whole point of ANZAC day is to remember what our elders did for us. The descendants of the WWI diggers are doing exactly that, remembering. I reckon those descendants did their country proud, by not forgetting what their parents, grandparents or Great Grandparents did for them.

The Dawn Service on ANZAC Day and the minutes silence on the 11th of November serve to commemorate the sacrafices made during wars. The ANZAC march serves to thank veterans for their personal service. 100,000 people didn't line the streets of Sydney to wave at the middle aged men and women who were there trying to trade off their grandparents service.

 

[ottomankhadi]

im sharing your honour and sadness...
you know ,that was not our fault...

 

[Zardnaar]

Originally posted by ottomankhadi
im sharing your honour and sadness...
you know ,that was not our fault...

We were invading your country. Turkey lost alot of troops as well. Personally I don't blame the Turks for anything..

 

[ottomankhadi]

maybe its a bit bizarre but i ve watched a documentary about the Chanakkale(Galipoli) war and it's shown that in the end of the war Turkish and Anzac soldiers helped themselves to being existed.. for example Turkish soldiers were giving water anzacs and anzacs're giving meal to us...
that was not our war ... they had recognized it in the end...