For the ANZACs

hi guys, im away for the next week or so and anzac day is coming, i would jsut like to have a little tribute here for them, it is important to remember the sacrifice fo those before us, and learn from the mistakes. Thank you..

HISTORY (www.anzacs.com)
The ANZACs comprised the 1st Australian Division and the composite New Zealand and Australian Division. On 25 April 1915, the ANZACs landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula.

Instead of finding the flat beach they expected, they found they had been landed at an incorrect position and faced steep cliffs and constant barrages of enemy fire and shelling. Around 20,000 soldiers landed on the beach over the next two days to face a well organised, well armed, large Turkish force determined to defend their country- and the aussies were wiped out fast, few survived.

thousands of aussie and kiwi men died on that beach, their sacrifice really strikes a chord in us and represents part of who we are as a nation. LEST WE FORGET



THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER
At the going down of the sun...
I crouched in a shallow trench on that hell of exposed beaches... steeply rising foothills bare of cover... a landscape pockmarked with war’s inevitable litter... piles of stores... equipment... ammunition... and the weird contortions of death sculptured in Australian flesh... I saw the going down of the sun on that first ANZAC Day... the chaotic maelstrom of Australia’s blooding.

I fought in the frozen mud of the Somme... in a blazing destroyer exploding on the North Sea... I fought on the perimeter at Tobruk... crashed in the flaming wreckage of a fighter in New Guinea... lived with the damned in the place cursed with the name Changi.

I was your mate... the kid across the street... the med. student at graduation... the mechanic in the corner garage... the baker who brought you bread... the gardener who cut your lawn... the clerk who sent your phone bill.

I was an Army private... a Naval commander... an Air Force bombardier. no man knows me... no name marks my tomb, for I am every Australian serviceman... I am the Unknown Soldier.

I died for a cause I held just in the service of my land... that you and yours may say in freedom... I am proud to be an Australian



THE ODE
They shall grow not 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.

I agree. Pause to remember.

In Calgary, along "Memorial Drive," there is a sign that says "These trees are living memorials of men who died for your freedom."

They were planted after WWI, of which Gallipoli was one battle, and are now so old some have been taken down and replacements planted.

My grandfather was nominated for a Victoria Cross in WWI and settled for the Military Cross and Distinguished Service Order as well as the Croix de Guerre, all for actions later in the war on the St. Quentin Canal near Belinglise, France. He had been wounded and gassed earlier in the conflict. After the war, he returned to life as a farmer in Central Alberta. My father was his youngest son.

Some 50 years after the conflict had ended, as a bright-eyed boy I had asked him "Grampa, how many Germans did you kill?" and I remember the tears welling up in his eyes before being led away by my father.

Whether the conflict is long ago or more recent, these people are carrying burdens few of us would want.

In Canada, the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11 month is Remembrance Day, similar to ANZAC Day.

Rick C
www.goldentales.ca

I keep a couple of poppies pinned to my sun visor in my car all year. People have started copying me and I love it. I feel strongly that we should be remembering EVERY DAY, not just November 11th. Nov 11 should be a day we remember together, not the only day of the year that it is important. Not too many people of my generation are aware of the seriousness and the sacrifice that our grandparents made for us and I am very glad to have gone to schools that took the first 11 days of November very seriously. We had veterans come and talk to us about the wars and they gave me memories that I will never forget. None of my family died in the war, but I can so feel for the women and children who lost their men and dads, and for those who survived and had to go on with those memories. How dreadful for it all to have been real.

I see my poppies every day and not once do I look at them with empty thoughts. I just hope that we can do more for the few vets that remain.

(melanie- in case you don't do poppies, in Canada, we wear a poppy pinned to our lapel for 2 weeks prior to Rememberance Day.)

I keep a couple of poppies pinned to my sun visor in my car all year. People have started copying me and I love it. I feel strongly that we should be remembering EVERY DAY, not just November 11th. Nov 11 should be a day we remember together, not the only day of the year that it is important. Not too many people of my generation are aware of the seriousness and the sacrifice that our grandparents made for us and I am very glad to have gone to schools that took the first 11 days of November very seriously. We had veterans come and talk to us about the wars and they gave me memories that I will never forget. None of my family died in the war, but I can so feel for the women and children who lost their men and dads, and for those who survived and had to go on with those memories. How dreadful for it all to have been real.

I see my poppies every day and not once do I look at them with empty thoughts. I just hope that we can do more for the few vets that remain.

(melanie- in case you don't do poppies, in Canada, we wear a poppy pinned to our lapel for 2 weeks prior to Rememberance Day.)

A tradition based on this poem - a first hand account - by Canadian John McRae, who did not survive WWI.

In Flanders Fields
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.

The name of John McCrae (1872-1918) may seem out of place in the distinguished company of World War I poets, but he is remembered for what is probably the single best-known and popular poem from the war, "In Flanders Fields." He was a Canadian physician and fought on the Western Front in 1914, but was then transferred to the medical corps and assigned to a hospital in France. He died of pneumonia while on active duty in 1918. His volume of poetry, In Flanders Fields and Other Poems, was published in 1919.

Rick C
www.goldentales.ca

Thank you guys for bringing this subject up,a good read and reminder..

Today is ANZAC Day in New Zealand. The dawn parades have been held all over the country, the lonely sound of the bugle tribute rings out hauntingly as the sun ascends over the horizon. Every year, there are less and less of the original ANZAC's left, and so by us, and all our younger generations remembering their plight in Gallipoli, we make their memory live on forever. How beautiful to keep a poppy in your car. I think i will do the same.