This morning, my children attended their first ANZAC dawn service.
Photo by NicoleFor overseas readers of this blog, ANZAC day marks the first major military action fought by the Australian and New Zealand troops. On this day in 1915, the Australia New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) formed part of the allied expedition that set out to capture the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey. Their goal was to open the Dardanelles to the allied navies.
The campaign was a disaster.
From the very beginning, there were no specialised landing craft, the disparate troops had no training, and supplies for the army had been packed in ways which made them difficult to access for landings.
The British commander who lead the campaign, Sir Ian Hamilton, believed that the navy would make further attacks during his landings. The navy, realising likely losses and fundamentally opposing the idea that tactical losses of ships was acceptable declined to mount another attack. The Turks had been allowed two months warning from the first serious navy attack to prepare ground defences before the follow-up ground landing could be mounted. They were well prepared.
Over 8,000 Australians and close to 3,000 New Zealanders died.
At first, military censorship prevented the true story being told but an Australian journalist, Keith Murdoch (father of Australian newspaper tycoon Rupert Murdoch) smuggled the story about the scale of the Dardanelles disaster back to the Australian Prime Minister, Andrew Fisher.
Fisher and the New Zealand Prime Minister, took the matter to the British Prime Minister David Lloyd George. It led directly to the dismissal of the British commander, Sir Ian Hamilton and the withdrawal of troops from Gallipoli.
ANZAC day has since become a a national day of remembrance of all soldiers who have died at war.
For myself and my children, the concepts behind ANZAC day are hard to grasp. We commemorate soldiers we do not know, who fought in a land we've never been, to help a "mother land" we have long since left.
Yet, every year, I still try to attend ANZAC day services. Why? Because to me, ANZAC day is a day of national ritual mourning. And by mourning war, I am better able to instill (in my own small ways) peace for my children.
Lest we forget...
7 comments:
I am utterly ambivalent about ANZAC Day - I have no problem with the Dawn Service itself, and its measured sorrowful approach, though even that lately has seemed prone to nationalist speechifying. But I am utterly horrified at people who take their children to the parade, particularly if it's only the parade, where to my mind there is a very fine line between honouring those who fought and glorifying war. We seem to want to collectively forget that 'fighting for your country' means killing people because they come from another country.
I didn't think any Aussie could be ambivalent about ANZAC DAY,war is a terrible mistake particularly when nearly every war we've been involved in is very little real threat to us, our allegiences are often misplaced.
However I attend the Dawn Service most years out of repect for my parents, both of whom served and were lucky enough to survive.I also attend as a mark of respect for my generation of boys who were so cruelly sent to Vietnam and returned to such disapproval.
I hate war as much as the next person but I respect those who were sadly misguided,thought they were doing the right thing or were conscripted.If there was more compassion in the world there would be no war.
I also find it impossible to be ambivalent about ANZAC Day. They may have marched off to war, with grand ideas of adventure, but what if they had done nothing?? Evil prevails when good men do nothing.
Scores of men and mere boys, risked life to secure the freedoms that we enjoy and take for granted, so if they get to march with thier medals once a year, and be appreciated for their efforts, who are we to deny them that?!?!
As I grow older, ANZAC Day means more and more to me. Maybe because I can see that it was such a complete waste. Maybe because, as an ex-soldier, I can identify with those who were sent even though it is a hundred years ago. Or maybe just because I now have children of my own and realise, with more strength than even, the value of peace.
May it never happen again.
Thanks for such a thoughtful post.
That was a beautifully written thoughtful post Eilleen. War is such a shameful waste of human life, the worse kind of consumption by a society ever.
“When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.” - Jimi Hendrix
Happy ANZAC Day!
A beautiful post.
This year on each side of the Tasman sea both the New Zealand and Australian National Anthems were played and/or sung. I hope this continues. The ongoing ANZAC bond most certainly does.
Post a Comment