Post by Waverley on Apr 25, 2008 9:45:56 GMT 1
I received a phone call yesterday from my daughter Lorraine telling me that she got up at dawn to attend the ANZAC Memorial Service in Queensland where she is on holiday at the moment...I am proud that I managed to install some sort of respect into her by taking her to the battlefields of the Western Front when she was at school.
LEST WE FORGET
Thousands brave chill of Gallipoli
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April 25, 2008
DAWN has broken over Anzac Cove at Gallipoli with a reminder of the courage shown in World War I by Australian and Turkish troops.
Thousands of Australians, many swathed in blankets or sleeping bags, were among the crowd that gathered in the pre-dawn chill on the shores of the Aegean Sea at Gallipoli for the annual Anzac Day dawn service.
Australian Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon reminded those gathered, many of them young backpackers, that Gallipoli was the birthplace of the Anzac spirit and gave legitimacy to Australia's fledgling nationhood.
Mr Fitzgibbon, in an address shown live on TV, said Australians stood in awe of the commitment and courage exhibited by the diggers as well as their enemy, the Turks, who were defending their homeland.
“Here they fought a brutal and ugly war, remembered as much as anything for the strategic mistakes of its leaders and the high human costs of victories and defeats alike,” Mr Fitzgibbon said.
“They were doing something they really believed in, fighting for king and for country or in defence of their homeland.”
As dawn began to break, Mr Fitzgibbon said of the 60,000 Australians who landed at Gallipoli, 8,709 had died, while of the 8,500 New Zealanders who fought there, 2,721 lost their lives.
He said the soldiers had expected a quick and decisive victory, opening up the Dardenelles to the Anglo-French taskforce looking for a passage to Constantinople, today's Istanbul.
“They could never have imagined what lay ahead as they neared these shores and we could never hope to fully appreciate their deeds and of course their pain,” Mr Fitzgibbon said.
“But we have certainly come to appreciate their legacy - here they gave birth to the Anzac legend and gave legitimacy to Australia's nationhood.
“They raised global consciousness of the Australian character and demeanour and even during the darkest hours they brought larrikinism, irreverence and dry humour to one of the toughest places on earth.”
The journey to Gallipoli in Turkey has become a rite of passage for many young Australians and New Zealanders to honour the troops who landed on the beach in the early morning of April 25, 1915.
The Chief of Air Force, Air Marshal Geoff Shepherd, is also in Gallipoli.
Under three flagpoles bearing the Australian, New Zealand and Turkish flags at half mast, Mr Fitzgibbon led the laying of the wreaths, followed by New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and their Turkish counterpart.
Other countries to place wreaths at the Anzac memorial included France, South Africa, Germany and Ireland.
The crowd, which numbered almost 10,000 Australians, New Zealanders and Turks, then sang Abide With Me as darkness turned to light on the World War I battlefield.
A bugler played the Last Post and Air Marshal Shepherd read the ode concluding in Lest We Forget.
The moving ceremony was then completed with the Reveille and two minutes' silence to remember the heroes from both sides who fell at Gallipoli after the April 25, 1915 landing.
The huge crowd then began a quiet walk along the road past Anzac Cove and into the hills of Gallipoli, where another moving Anzac Day ceremony is held in the Lone Pine cemetery.
LEST WE FORGET
Thousands brave chill of Gallipoli
Font Size:DecreaseIncreasePrint Page:Print
April 25, 2008
DAWN has broken over Anzac Cove at Gallipoli with a reminder of the courage shown in World War I by Australian and Turkish troops.
Thousands of Australians, many swathed in blankets or sleeping bags, were among the crowd that gathered in the pre-dawn chill on the shores of the Aegean Sea at Gallipoli for the annual Anzac Day dawn service.
Australian Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon reminded those gathered, many of them young backpackers, that Gallipoli was the birthplace of the Anzac spirit and gave legitimacy to Australia's fledgling nationhood.
Mr Fitzgibbon, in an address shown live on TV, said Australians stood in awe of the commitment and courage exhibited by the diggers as well as their enemy, the Turks, who were defending their homeland.
“Here they fought a brutal and ugly war, remembered as much as anything for the strategic mistakes of its leaders and the high human costs of victories and defeats alike,” Mr Fitzgibbon said.
“They were doing something they really believed in, fighting for king and for country or in defence of their homeland.”
As dawn began to break, Mr Fitzgibbon said of the 60,000 Australians who landed at Gallipoli, 8,709 had died, while of the 8,500 New Zealanders who fought there, 2,721 lost their lives.
He said the soldiers had expected a quick and decisive victory, opening up the Dardenelles to the Anglo-French taskforce looking for a passage to Constantinople, today's Istanbul.
“They could never have imagined what lay ahead as they neared these shores and we could never hope to fully appreciate their deeds and of course their pain,” Mr Fitzgibbon said.
“But we have certainly come to appreciate their legacy - here they gave birth to the Anzac legend and gave legitimacy to Australia's nationhood.
“They raised global consciousness of the Australian character and demeanour and even during the darkest hours they brought larrikinism, irreverence and dry humour to one of the toughest places on earth.”
The journey to Gallipoli in Turkey has become a rite of passage for many young Australians and New Zealanders to honour the troops who landed on the beach in the early morning of April 25, 1915.
The Chief of Air Force, Air Marshal Geoff Shepherd, is also in Gallipoli.
Under three flagpoles bearing the Australian, New Zealand and Turkish flags at half mast, Mr Fitzgibbon led the laying of the wreaths, followed by New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and their Turkish counterpart.
Other countries to place wreaths at the Anzac memorial included France, South Africa, Germany and Ireland.
The crowd, which numbered almost 10,000 Australians, New Zealanders and Turks, then sang Abide With Me as darkness turned to light on the World War I battlefield.
A bugler played the Last Post and Air Marshal Shepherd read the ode concluding in Lest We Forget.
The moving ceremony was then completed with the Reveille and two minutes' silence to remember the heroes from both sides who fell at Gallipoli after the April 25, 1915 landing.
The huge crowd then began a quiet walk along the road past Anzac Cove and into the hills of Gallipoli, where another moving Anzac Day ceremony is held in the Lone Pine cemetery.