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Thread: Living the ANZAC dream
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04-24-2005, 05:09 AM #1Web Hosting Master
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Living the ANZAC dream
Monday 25th April is ANZAC day in Aussie. ANZAC was the name given to the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps soldiers who landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey early on the morning of 25 April 1915 during the First World War (1914-1918).
It's a long weekend here for most folks, and time to reflect the sacrifice made by those boys/men that gave their lives in the first World War.
I remember being at a dawn service some time back. I was sitting on the ground there with the family (wife + 2 kids back then), and there was an old gentlemen sitting besides me. He leaned over to me and said I was living the anzac's dream. I asked him how, and he told me that most of the anzacs were very young men, who were not married etc, and they would dream about when they came home after the war, they could marry their sweetheart and raise a family, buy a house. He said that was their dream, and thoughts like that kept them going in the dark times.
I was stunned, and sat there quietly for the next few minutes trying to take it all in. It seems so unfair that many of those anzacs didn't get the chance to marry their sweetheart and raise a family, buy a home, where as I did. I then hugged my wife and kids, and have never felt so grateful and fortunate in all my life, thanks to the sacrifice of the anzacs.
So for all you aussies, come Monday, see if you can make it to a dawn service, and pay your respects, and honor these fallen heroes.• WLVPN.com • NetProtect owned White Label VPN provider •
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04-24-2005, 05:18 AM #2Newbie
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Those things make you thinking. You should concider yourself very happy with a wife and children. Many of the soldiers around won't get a real chance to realise their dream.
Think that's why choosing for the army often can be hard.
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04-24-2005, 05:28 AM #3Web Hosting Master
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Banjo Paterson wrote as an open letter to the troops in 1915 a poem he titled "We're All Australians Now"
Australia takes her pen in hand,
To write a line to you,
To let you fellows understand,
How proud we are of you.
From shearing shed and cattle run,
From Broome to Hobsons Bay,
Each native-born Australian son,
stands straighter up today.
The man who used to "hump his drum",
On far-out Queensland runs,
Is fighting side by side with some
Tasmanian farmer's sons.
The fisher-boys dropped sail and oar
To grimly stand the test,
Along that storm-swept Turkish shore,
With miners from the west.
The old state jealousies of yore
Are dead as Pharaoh's sow,
We're not State children any more
We're all Australians now!
Our six-starred flag that used to fly,
Half-shyly to the breeze,
Unknown where older nations ply
Their trade on foreign seas,
Flies out to meet the morning blue
With Vict'ry at the prow;
For that's the flag the Sydney flew,
The wide seas know it now!
The mettle that a race can show
Is proved with shot and steel,
And now we know what nations know
And feel what nations feel.
The honoured graves beneath the crest
Of Gaba Tepe hill,
May hold our bravest and our best,
But we have brave men still.
With all our petty quarrels done,
Dissensions overthrown,
We have, through what you boys have done,
A history of our own.
Our old world diff'rences are dead,
Like weeds beneath the plough,
For English, Scotch, and Irish-bred,
They're all Australians now!
So now we'll toast the Third Brigade,
That led Australia's van,
For never shall their glory fade
In minds Australian.
Fight on, fight on, unflinchingly,
Till right and justice reign.
Fight on, fight on, till Victory
Shall send you home again.
And with Australia's flag shall fly
A spray of wattle bough,
To symbolise our unity,
We're all Australians now.
Less We Forget
Peace .. Laurie Hillwww.doctorhill.com.au
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04-24-2005, 05:50 AM #4Web Hosting Master
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Howard not attending NZ national service
The Prime Minister John Howard will attend a barbeque with Australian soldiers, rather than go to New Zealand's national service at Chunuk Bair in Gallipoli tomorrow.
New Zealand's Prime Minister Helen Clark is planning to attend the Australian service on Anzac Day at Lone Pine.
It is understood Mr Howard's decision is likely to raise eyebrows among the large New Zealand contingent at Gallipoli.
But Miss Clark says she does not believe Mr Howard's decision can be interpreted as a snub.
"Well that's entirely a matter for Mr Howard, how he designs his program," Ms Clark said.
"It so happens for us, our services at the end of a series of services so it's not practical for us not to carry right through the morning service with all the program.
"That's what I'll be doing."
All countries involved in the Gallipoli campaign hold their own national services, but this year, for the first time, they have been spread over two days.
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04-24-2005, 07:13 AM #5DigitalPunchCardMaker
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And here are the touching words for whom lost their lives in Gallipoli:
From: Mustafa Kemal, founder of modern Rep. of Turkey
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 the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours. You the mothers who sent their sons from far away countries, wipe 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.
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04-24-2005, 09:15 AM #6Web Hosting Master
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BurakUeda, yeah, that's a beautifully written tribute.
In the next few years, I want to go visit Gallipoli. It feels like a pilgrimage of sorts.• WLVPN.com • NetProtect owned White Label VPN provider •
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04-24-2005, 09:21 AM #7DigitalPunchCardMaker
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You have to man.
I went university there, lived 5 years.
I am not an emotional man, very very few things makes me cry, but every time I visit Gallipoli, I couldn't help my eyes watering.
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04-24-2005, 09:27 AM #8Web Hosting Master
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Originally posted by BurakUeda
. . . I am not an emotional man, very very few things makes me cry, but every time I visit Gallipoli, I couldn't help my eyes watering.• WLVPN.com • NetProtect owned White Label VPN provider •
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04-24-2005, 05:47 PM #9ex-Aussie
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Yep, my parents will be there at the memorial in Caloundra for it (as they are each year), then off to the RSL club for a few breakfast rums.
http://www.caloundrarsl.com.au/conte.../anzac_day.asp
I wouldn't know where to find a service here in Western Washington though.
AND THE BAND PLAYED WALTZING MATILDA
When I was a young man I carried my pack
And I lived the free life of a rover
From the Murrays green basin to the dusty outback
I waltzed my Matilda all over
Then in nineteen fifteen my country said Son
It's time to stop rambling 'cause there's work to be done
So they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun
And they sent me away to the war
And the band played Waltzing Matilda
As we sailed away from the quay
And amidst all the tears and the shouts and the cheers
We sailed off to Gallipoli
How well I remember that terrible day
How the blood stained the sand and the water
And how in that hell that they called Suvla Bay
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter
Johnny Turk he was ready, he primed himself well
He chased us with bullets, he rained us with shells
And in five minutes flat he'd blown us all to hell
Nearly blew us right back to Australia
But the band played Waltzing Matilda
As we stopped to bury our slain
We buried ours and the Turks buried theirs
Then we started all over again
Now those that were left, well we tried to survive
In a mad world of blood, death and fire
And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive
But around me the corpses piled higher
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over tit
And when I woke up in my hospital bed
And saw what it had done, I wished I was dead
Never knew there were worse things than dying
For no more I'll go waltzing Matilda
All around the green bush far and near
For to hump tent and pegs, a man needs two legs
No more waltzing Matilda for me
So they collected the cripples, the wounded, the maimed
And they shipped us back home to Australia
The armless, the legless, the blind, the insane
Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla
And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay
I looked at the place where my legs used to be
And thank Christ there was nobody waiting for me
To grieve and to mourn and to pity
And the band played Waltzing Matilda
As they carried us down the gangway
But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared
Then turned all their faces away
And now every April I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me
And I watch my old comrades, how proudly they march
Reliving old dreams of past glory
And the old men march slowly, all bent, stiff and sore
The forgotten heroes from a forgotten war
And the young people ask, "What are they marching for?"
And I ask myself the same question
And the band plays Waltzing Matilda
And the old men answer to the call
But year after year their numbers get fewer
Some day no one will march there at all
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
Who'll come a waltzing Matilda with me
And their ghosts may be heard as you pass the Billabong
Who'll come-a-waltzing Matilda with me?
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04-24-2005, 06:24 PM #10Web Hosting Master
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Monday 25th April is ANZAC day in Aussie. ANZAC was the name given to the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps soldiers who landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey early on the morning of 25 April 1915 during the First World War (1914-1918).
It's a long weekend here for most folks, and time to reflect the sacrifice made by those boys/men that gave their lives in the first World War.
I remember being at a dawn service some time back. I was sitting on the ground there with the family (wife + 2 kids back then), and there was an old gentlemen sitting besides me. He leaned over to me and said I was living the anzac's dream. I asked him how, and he told me that most of the anzacs were very young men, who were not married etc, and they would dream about when they came home after the war, they could marry their sweetheart and raise a family, buy a house. He said that was their dream, and thoughts like that kept them going in the dark times.
I was stunned, and sat there quietly for the next few minutes trying to take it all in. It seems so unfair that many of those anzacs didn't get the chance to marry their sweetheart and raise a family, buy a home, where as I did. I then hugged my wife and kids, and have never felt so grateful and fortunate in all my life, thanks to the sacrifice of the anzacs.
So for all you aussies, come Monday, see if you can make it to a dawn service, and pay your respects, and honor these fallen heroes.
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04-24-2005, 06:58 PM #11Web Hosting Master
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Originally posted by akashik
Yep, my parents will be there at the memorial in Caloundra for it (as they are each year), then off to the RSL club for a few breakfast rums.• WLVPN.com • NetProtect owned White Label VPN provider •
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04-24-2005, 07:02 PM #12Web Hosting Master
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Originally posted by akashik
And now every April I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me
And I watch my old comrades, how proudly they march
Reliving old dreams of past glory
And the old men march slowly, all bent, stiff and sore
The forgotten heroes from a forgotten war
And the young people ask, "What are they marching for?"
And I ask myself the same question
And the band plays Waltzing Matilda
And the old men answer to the call
But year after year their numbers get fewer
Some day no one will march there at all• WLVPN.com • NetProtect owned White Label VPN provider •
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04-24-2005, 07:45 PM #13Eternal Member
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Originally posted by akashik
I wouldn't know where to find a service here in Western Washington though.
Gary
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04-24-2005, 07:53 PM #14Web Hosting Master
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Originally posted by AussieHosts
Yeah...that'd be a shame. But at least you wont ever forget. We moved to Tasmania in January, and I've just gotten back from our local RSL's service. They put on a good turn. I picked up a few bills at two-up, and blew them on the pokies. Typical.
Gary
What part of Tassie. I thought you had become a permanent Queenslander.
That makes three from Tassie now. You anon-e-mouse and myself.
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04-24-2005, 10:18 PM #15Eternal Member
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We're living in George Town now Doc.
Gary
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04-25-2005, 03:24 AM #16
The ANZAC tradition seems to get stronger each year. Great to see so many younguns taking part
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04-25-2005, 04:36 AM #17Web Hosting Master
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Originally posted by anon-e-mouse
The ANZAC tradition seems to get stronger each year. Great to see so many younguns taking part
ANZAC is probably the closest thing we have to Nation defining history, and we need to take hold of that, and preserve it for coming generations. I think there's only a small handful of anzacs left.• WLVPN.com • NetProtect owned White Label VPN provider •
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04-25-2005, 05:01 AM #18
The last ANZAC died a few months ago
Spectacular Dawn Service at ANZAC Cove with the flares et al.
Great turnout this morning at the dawn service here for such a small city
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04-25-2005, 05:34 AM #19Eternal Member
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Originally posted by anon-e-mouse
The last ANZAC died a few months ago
Gary
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04-25-2005, 05:56 AM #20Web Hosting Master
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Originally posted by anon-e-mouse
The last ANZAC died a few months ago
bah.• WLVPN.com • NetProtect owned White Label VPN provider •
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04-25-2005, 06:14 AM #21Web Hosting Master
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Alec William Campbell
'the Last Sentinel of Gallipoli'
The last entry in the roll of honour for Gallipoli was finally made on Thursday, 16th May 2002, when Alec Campbell, the last Anzac and last surviving participant of the Gallipoli campaign, died of pneumonia, aged 103. With his loss Gallipoli ceases to be a part of living memory and has truly become, as John North referred to it, 'a country of the mind'. The flags of a nation flew at half-mast, the front pages of the major newspapers were devoted to the event, and the Prime Minister cut short a visit to China in order to attend Mr. Campbell's state funeral at St. David's Anglican Cathedral in Hobart, Tasmania.
The story of the last Anzac begins in Launceston, Tasmania, on 26th February 1899, and thus spans three centuries. Alec was the son of Marian Thrower and Samuel Campbell and grandson of Donald Campbell, an immigrant from Argyllshire, Scotland. On 2nd July 1915, two months after the landing at Gallipoli was reported in the Australian newspapers, he presented himself at the recruiting office where he gave his age as 18 years 4 months. He was at that time, he stated, a clerk in an insurance company, and had served three years in the Senior Cadets at Launceston's Scotch College. He was 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighed 135 pounds. Parental consent was necessary for anyone between the ages of 18 and 21 to enlist in the A.I.F., which should have presented an obstacle to enlistment because Alec had in fact lied about his age, raising it a full two years above his actual 16 years and 4 months. He met the problem of how to show the authorities he had his parents' permission head-on; he simply got it from them. On 30th June 1915 his mother and father signed a letter in which they give their consent to his 'enlistment for the front', unwittingly reserving a special place in history for their son, No. 2731 Private A. W. Campbell, 15th (Queensland & Tasmania) Battalion, 4th Infantry Brigade, Australian Imperial Force. He would be nicknamed and known by his comrades as 'The Kid'.
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04-25-2005, 06:51 AM #22
Whoa! Time flies, it hardly seems all that time since Alec died
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04-25-2005, 07:46 AM #23Eternal Member
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Originally posted by anon-e-mouse
Whoa! Time flies, it hardly seems all that time since Alec died
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04-25-2005, 07:58 AM #24Web Hosting Master
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Originally posted by TheDoctor
. . . The last entry in the roll of honour for Gallipoli was finally made on Thursday, 16th May 2002, when Alec Campbell, the last Anzac and last surviving participant of the Gallipoli campaign, died of pneumonia, aged 103.Last edited by Aussie Bob; 04-25-2005 at 08:01 AM.
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