Re: ANZAC Day.
 

Absolutely.... Strangley it Makes me feel closer to Home.... And closer to family long gone... The kids and HE will too... We go as a family...

Our church always provided the choir for the local Civic Remembrance Day service in the park.... Come rain or shine... Mostly rain...

My maternal grandfather fought in the trenches of WWI, was gassed at the somme... But survived... and my paternal grandfather didnt really get to know his his son til he was nearly 6 years old becuase of the part he played in WW
II

They didnt give up their lives, but they Both gave up so much... As did so many... I'm as greateful to the Australian Diggers as I am to our own boys who gave up so much...

One day, Ask me about the digger who turn up one day in a sleepy essex village and delivered the australian black opals To my Great Grandmother as a gift from His mother on his way to dying at Gallipoli... The same ones I wore on my wedding day....

Its all very close to home for me... And for many many people

I think its a bloody beautiful day... Brings us closer together as a family and closer to the people of our adopted country, through a shared loss and thanksgiving...

Re: ANZAC Day.
 

I don’t know the situation in PNG, however I have been to Vanuatu, which I knew in my childhood as the New Hebrides.

Just off Espiritu Santo lies “Million Dollar Point, where the US dumped much of its equipment into the sea at the end of WW2. Not just the tools of war, but also tools, materials and equipment. Jeeps and trucks, corrugated iron sheets, batteries, torches, blankets and beds. Thousands of tonnes of material that would have been useful to the locals was taken out and pushed over the side.

I always thought this was just sheer bloody mindedness by the yanks, until I did the research. The British colonial office demanded that the Americans give nothing to the locals. There are various theories why:

One is that they thought it would “spoil” the locals and destroy their way of life.

Another less kind one was that the British were hoping the Yanks would give it to them to take away.

Even less kind was the one that the British thought giving the locals equipment and supplies would threaten potential markets for British goods, and would align the locals to the Americans.

Take your pick on the reason, but if you dive in shallow waters just off the island you can see an amazing quantity of wreckage including jeeps, six-wheel drive trucks, bulldozers, semi-trailers, fork lifts, tractors, bound sheets of corrugated iron, unopened boxes of clothing, and cases of Coca-Cola.

Million Dollar Point is now one of the most popular diving sites in the world.

http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issue...lion_point.php

Re: ANZAC Day.
 

I was at an ANZAC Sunday luncheon many years ago. Everyone was sitting at a table at the long gone Enfield RSL, resplendent in uniforms, sparking with medals.

The guest of honour was a full blown ANZAC. He had landed on the beach, albeit not on that awful dawn.

He was very old, and the years had taken their toll. Maybe the beer took its toll as well, because halfway through he stood up and shouted “you are all F*ing mad”. He then turned to a young digger and said “Don’t go to war, its f*ing horrible”. A tough Sergeant got up and walked over, put his arm around the ANZAC and calmed him down like a mother would calm a baby.

I guess Sergeants calm down frighted men as much as they put fear into them.

It put everything into perspective.

Re: ANZAC Day.
 

Its not about celebrating war... Its about remembering how awful it is so that it wont happen again.... and yet governments keep sending our boys...

Re: ANZAC Day.
 

I've only been here 7.5 years but in that time I've noticed that Anzac day seems more important, and bigger, every year.

For about 18 years I turned out for every Rememberance Sunday and St Geordies (yes we celebrate this in Northumberland not like you southern heathens) come rain or Shine. The numbers attending were small but steady but from what I've seen on the internet and from friends this has also increased rapidly since.

This increase in "participation" maybe due to the ongoing Crusades but in the case of the small numbers of Australian military taking part I think it's down to something else.

I think this is the ordinary people saying "**** you" to the governent and it's political correctness. I don't think the governments understand this undercurrent of feeling but try to look sincere laying reaths etc. This is one day in the year were the people are in charge not the government.

Sorry for my rant.

Keel

Re: ANZAC Day.
 

My daughter and two friends are singing the Recesional at their school Anzac service on wednesday, so the house is echoing to strains of "We'll Meet Again", "A Nightingale Sang in Berkley Square" and "White Cliffs of Dover."

I've also sung all those and more when doing Music Halls- the most stirring was "Soldier Boy" amalgamated with "Tipperary"- sends shivers down the spine.

Re: ANZAC Day.
 

I did one ANZAC dawn service with a huge hangover, and perhaps a little influenced by Mr Walker.

When returning my sword, I did the usual left hand fumble to locate the opening on the scabbard, but somehow missed, and it slipped into my trouser pocket, going straight through the bottom and sliding down inside my trouser leg. The blade isn’t sharp, but the point is, and it gouged a scratch on my thigh, which for some stupid reason bled like a cut throat.

Even worse, I couldn’t pull it out and replace it correctly, so I left it there, thinking it wouldn’t matter. When we marched off I found it meant I had a stiff leg, and had to goose step like a member of the SS.

Not my best moment, made worse by the clucking of little old ladies who wanted to get my trousers off and have a look at my war wound. :rofl:

Re: ANZAC Day.
 

It’s the night before ANZAC day. Years ago we would all be in Barracks or the Mess. Drinking, telling stories, ironing uniforms, polishing brasses and bulling boots. The memories stay with me, and I still smile when I recall them. We would be up very early, into trucks and off to dawn services.

Those days are long gone, and even the preparations have changed. Highshine patent boots don’t need bulling, gold plated fittings don’t need brasso, and the guys get the uniforms starched for them. And they guys who told the stories have changed. Jock died in a car accident a few years ago. Mick died of cancer last year. The others have got older.

I did the usual phone tag tonight, trying to arrange for all the guys to be together in one bar at the same time. I called a good mate, and at first I thought he was too drunk to speak. Then I picked up the word “stroke”. It seems he had a stroke whilst I was overseas.

I am so shocked and saddened. :(

Re: ANZAC Day.
 

Have lost a few of 'my boys' n all to shitty deaths,sometimes i wonder if it would have been better had they been lost in 'the field':unsure:

Re: ANZAC Day.
 

Ignorance is not a good look. Plenty of Southerners celebrate St Georges Day.

Re: ANZAC Day.
 

Reposted from elsewhere, but it sums up ANZAC day:

One year my CO decided we would march as a Regiment in the Sydney ANZAC Day parade. We spent the night before getting ready, got up at 3am and did a dawn service. Freezing cold in summer uniform of short sleeved shirts. The Padre passed around a bottle of rum to shop us shivering.
Very moving dawn service. Big lump in my throat at the Last Post. Ghosts on the parade square.

After the Dawn Service we had the traditional “gunfire breakfast”, coffee with lots of rum, then into the city on trucks. Formed up on a side street. Lots of waiting and hanging around. Saw lots of old friends. Then the CO yelled, we formed up and moved off.

Platoon by Platoon, Company by Company, the Regimental Pipes and Drums playing as the entire Regiment marched in perfect order down George Street, my fathers old Wilkinson in my hand. I glanced back out the corner of my eye as we made the turn off George onto Bathurst, and we looked damn good. I felt proud.

My girlfriend was waiting at Hyde Park. She was terrified. The Japanese in Sydney were always advised to stay indoors on ANZAC day. I was having none of that, and ordered her to watch me march and meet me after.

The Regiment split up and filled the bars. The CO, bored with the canned music, ordered one of the Sergeants to find the pipes and drums, and get them to play in the bar. The noise was deafening, drums and bagpipes shook the building. But it felt good. They were our pipes and drums, and we were immensely proud of them. My girlfriend was impressed and amazed.

Later we walked into another bar. As I was getting a drink an old veteran went up to my girlfriend and asked her where she came from. I saw his medals. Pacific Star, he had fought the Japanese.

She told him she was from Japan, and he paused, and then quietly said “long ago your grandfather and I tried to kill each other. I hope your Grandfather survived”.

He spoke some Japanese. He had learned it as a prisoner. I assume he had suffered at the hands of the Japanese, and it must have been hard for him, but he sat and chatted to my girlfriend without any hint of malice. She said he was a nice old man.

That night, as I lay in bed I thought over the events of the day. The Regiment marching, the pipes and drums, the bars.

But the highlight of the day was an old Australian who could justifiably have shunned my girlfriend, or even abused her, and I would have had no defence. Instead he acted like a man, and a gentleman.

Sometimes our greatest action can be to forgive and move on.

Re: ANZAC Day.
 

And Westpac Day, my loan gets refixed next week, bloody beauty!

Re: ANZAC Day.
 

My appologies Miss Moneypenny. My post was meant only at the heathens who don't celebrate.:wub: Not the God fearing Christian who frequent this site.:D

Re: ANZAC Day.
 

I don't have any Anzacs in my family, but my paternal great-grandfather served in WWI and both of my grandfathers served in WWII, so I think of them on Anzac Day. They were all English.

My paternal great-grandfather was a Stoker in the RN (not sure which vessel). My paternal grandfather was a Brigadier in the British Army of the Rhine (4th Armoured Brigade).

My maternal grandfather was a Sub Lieutenant in the RN, on board the HMS Taciturn:

http://i55.tinypic.com/2je4s9h.jpg

Of these three, I only ever knew my maternal grandfather. He steadfastly refused to talk about his experiences in WWII, and took them to his grave.

I am convinced that the only people who glorify war are those who've never fought in one.

Re: ANZAC Day.
 

My son will be marching as a police ranger, have already dropped him off to help with the gunfire breakfasts so we will be back for the morning service and march. I feel a tremendous amount of pride when I see him in his full police ranger uniform at 14 years old and he tells me that it is a time when he thinks of both his great grandfathers who he remembers well :wub: