At dawn on 25 April 1915, 16,000 Australian and New Zealand troops, drawn from all sections of society, disembarked to storm a once-peaceful cove on the Gallipoli Peninsula, now known as Anzac Cove. 24 hours later, 2,000 of them had died. It was the start of a bitter ten-month campaign that ended in defeat and withdrawal.
The failed Gallipoli campaign, followed by the outstanding success of Australian forces in France under the leadership of Sir John Monash was a coming-of-age experience for Australia.
The first Anzac Day was observed in 1916 and marked by marches and national observances in Australia, New Zealand and the UK, and a special sports day for troops stationed in Egypt, and awaiting transfer to France and other parts of Africa.
More wars followed in dreary succession: WW2, Korea, Vietnam, Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan. Today we remember those who fought in all of them. It has been said that it takes 10 workers behind the scenes to keep one serviceperson at the front. Food must be grown and transported; clothing made and supplied, weapons, tents, ammunition, medical services must be provided. Many women worked the land and in factories, along with remaining men. Loved ones were absent and in danger, there were children to raise, returning injured servicemen to nurse. We should never forget these people, either – they were essential to the war effort.
David read a poem that attempts to encapsulate the experience. At the end of it, he introduced the Ode to the Fallen. He said we might wish to join him in repeating the last line together; after which we will observe a minute’s silence.
Anzac Poem
From the Long White Cloud they came
From the sunlit plains they came
From rugged mountain ranges and the sparkling seas they came
From crowded cities and faraway farms they came.
Doctors and drapers, lawyers and labourers
Sportsmen and students, fishers and farmers
From Auckland and Albany, Sydney and Sale,
Wagga and Wellington, Bega, Bairnsdale.
In the rising sun’s rays
Wearing the rising sun badge
They stormed peaceful bays
Under fire fierce and savage
With courage undimmed
They fought hard but lost …
Their sacrifice remembered, year after year.
Our nations were forged, but at what a cost.
Shelled in the trenches, terror they bore
For some there was death, for some life-long pain.
Fighting for freedom; for the people’s own law,
The Anzacs united again and again.
The Boer War came first; the Great War was next
Flanders and Gallipoli, Africa, Italy
The Second World War brought Japan to our door
Then were Korea, Vietnam and more.
Heroes there were, the slouched hat they wore.
They saw the unspeakable, endured years of pain
In Burma and Changi, camps we abhor
Forcing at last the fury to wane.
At home they fought too, in factory and farm
Deprived of their fathers, lovers and sons,
Fearing to see the telegram boy,
Aching to welcome home weary loved ones,
Longing to hear that the madness had stopped.
We honour their memory year after year
In heartfelt occasions held far and near
But we honour them more keeping freedom alive
It’s the foe from within we now have to fear
Let’s not repeat this, let’s use our wits
Speak truth to power, place the cap where it fits.
And now at this hour
We remember in silence with gratitude deep
Those who fell, forever to sleep ….
David then invited us to stand.
"For they shall not grow 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 shall remember them
We shall remember them."
