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Last updated on August 6th, 2017 at 05:40 am
Jules Crittenden and Gemma Jones on Australia’s day of remembrance.
- onya, Jules and Gemma.Posted by Pogria on 2007 04 25 at 02:30 AM • permalink
- The campaign failed but the Anzacs never thought that they lost, they gave as good as they got and the losses sustained by the Turks undermined their morale and their fighting capacity on other fronts.
The strategic intent was sound and a few months earlier the defences in the area were so thin that the attack would have most likely succeeded. That would have opened a gateway for aid to Russia to sustain a viable second front in the East, shortening the war on the Western front and forestalling the Soviet takeover. In view of those stakes and the lives that a win would have saved later on it was probably worth the punt.
- #5 – Yep, that’s the town. The main ANZAC Day Ceremony in France was held there this morning.Posted by Villeurbanne on 2007 04 25 at 03:54 AM • permalink
- The Australian editorial was a pretty good one too I thought.
- Canberra, ANZAC day. Dawn service, estimate crowd size 9000-11000, which is simply huge. The media on the radio driving home took their estimate from 20,000 to 28,000 in the 25 minutes between the War Memorial and home! The march was good too, there were about 11,000-14,000 people present which is again huge (the media guess has now hit 30,000!). All in all a good day.
The media’s gross overestimates are really weird. Each stand at the AWM takes about 1075 people. There are 2 stands each with about 500 seats in front of them. So you can look at them, say ‘that is about 1000’ (or 500), and mentally count similar sized blocks of people for a rough estimate.
Easy, even a complete simpleton can do it.
Hmm. No wonder it is beyond the media.
MarkL
Canberra
- It appears that a group of ATSI (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) ex-service people had their own ANZAC Day commemoration and march in Redfern… Because they feel that the Aboriginal contribution has not been acknowledged.
Oh Please!
By having your own separate march you are separating yourselves from the rest of the service personnel commemorating ANZAC Day. If you have grievances about your current treatment take them to the proper authorities, whether they be civilian or miliary. ANZAC Day is NOT your day to protest.
But he said indigenous servicemen had not been allowed into RSL clubs on their return from service, and many still did not march on Anzac Day.
I’m pretty sure that Aboriginal people are allowed into RSL clubs now. And are afforded all the benefits that non-aboriginal service people get from the Miliatry.
Get. Over. It.
and this: Aus war vets protest racism…
- I’ve decided that the 2nd law* to be enacted under my future tenure as PM of Australia, will be the banning of The Fanatics, or anything resembling The Fanatics, from any ANZAC service, anywhere in the world. In fact, it will be a capital offence.
* the 1st law being the banning of the incredibly brainless and annoying chant:
“Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi”
- very o/t
Take a look at this article:-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6589301.stm#chinese
It contains two questions. The first is a sample question from an entry exam for a mathematics degree at a university in China, the second is one for a university (if you can still call it that) in Britain.
At the end of high school I would have been able to solve the first question; at the end of primary school I would have been able to solve the second.
- Unfortunately being from the States and merely visiting New Zealand the holidays tend to sneak up on me. This one was no exception. I knew of ANZAC day and a little of it’s history. I didn’t realize when it was, and missed the dawn ceremony.Posted by TattooedIntellectual on 2007 04 25 at 05:40 AM • permalink
- You would hardly know it’s Anzac Day if you were relying on The Age.Posted by flying pigs over mecca on 2007 04 25 at 06:22 AM • permalink
- #19 I only read it for local news, anything more and I get too pissed off. (It’s a bit like Muslim Village in that respect.) Can’t use The Herald Sun’s site – it uses 100% of the CPU for some reason.Posted by flying pigs over mecca on 2007 04 25 at 06:40 AM • permalink
- Vandals desecrate war memorialPosted by flying pigs over mecca on 2007 04 25 at 06:44 AM • permalink
- Most of the media coverage of war is about “loss”, “misery”, “futility” and “waste”.
Each Anzac day we are regaled with tearful stories of the horror, the guilt, the absolute desolation. I smell a rat, and not of the Tobruk sort.
Wars are fought in different ways over time. It is a cliche that Generals plan for each war based only on the last one. (If they learned nothing from the last one that would be reprehensible). Losses are decreasing, but could escalate madly if nukes are brought into play again.
Our media seem determined to avoid mention of allied/western successes. The allies did not win by merely turning up, tending to the wounded, or looking after the supplies.
They actually kicked butt, killed enemies, and were good at it. Read Chuck Yeager’s book. He was a fighter ace during WW2, not just a test pilot during the space race. Those guys did serious damage to the enemy, and their day was made by seeing plenty of enemy planes in the air.
The doom and gloom of our media’s coverage of everything warlike is turning us all into EU-wimps. Surrender is their only option. If you are not prepared to fight when your adversary is, it is goodnight nurse.
I know that people get killed, maimed, psychologically damaged, and that society is supposed to evolve beyond this dilemma. That only works if everyone is evolving.
Clearly they are not, and we are going to be held hostage if we lack the determination to meet force with at least equal force, preferably more force.
Triumphalism is being harnessed by the other side. Iran will make much of their latest hostage success. The Palis are planning more hostage actions, particularly since EUhud Ohlmert is bending their way on exchange of a thousand to one!
- #24 kae This one was in Sydney, I think the one you’re referring to was in Bathurst:
Anzac vandals need ‘kick up the backside’Posted by flying pigs over mecca on 2007 04 25 at 06:57 AM • permalink
- I raise my vegimite on toast to all antipodeans as a toast this Anzac Day Breakfast.
Got a bit convoluted there :^)
Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2007 04 25 at 07:38 AM • permalink
- I must confess that I didn’t know much about ANZAC Day, so I went to the article at Wikipedia. I followed some links, including one on ANZAC Day quotes. Some of these are hard to read with a dry eye. Example:
It was the birth of a nation, and one can only hope that this thought provided some comfort to the parents of the Anzac whose very Australian headstone stands where the first landing took place. It reads:
Died aged 18 near this spot
April 25, 1915
Did his best.Phillip Knightley, Australia: A Biography of a Nation, 2000
April 25, 1915. As Winston Churchill said of England during the Blitz, “This was their finest hour.”
- In memory of my uncles in two World Wars:
* Lt. Fred ‘Cul’ Culverwell (1892-1976), 16th Bttn, 1st AIF, ex-POW.
* Lt. Geoff O’Shaughnessy (1922-2003), HMAS Warramunga.Posted by David Morgan on 2007 04 25 at 09:00 AM • permalink
- BTW I got the idea from this comment on another thread:
o/t but if one more stupid Pommy bastard says “Happy Anzac Day!” to me, I’m going to re-enact the Battle of the Somme from the Prussian perspective.
Posted by murph on 2007 04 24 at 09:03 AM
This was followed by the comment:
In fairness, I can’t think of any other salutation – nor could the RSL officers I spoke to this afternoon. I do wish they’d come up with something.
Posted by Dan Lewis on 2007 04 24 at 09:30 AM
- My respects to all of you on ANZAC day from the daughter of a WWII vet.
Elizabeth
Imperial KeeperPosted by Elizabeth Imperial Keeper on 2007 04 25 at 10:25 AM • permalink
- I think RebbecaH has it right, Texas Bob.
Never forget.
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2007 04 25 at 10:33 AM • permalink
- I have been proud to serve with the diggers and the Kiwis. Both were magnificent.
I’ll think of the ANZACs tonight, and have a good long silent time of thankfulness for such friends and allies.
I am an American soldier who is grateful for them.
Posted by Major John on 2007 04 25 at 11:00 AM • permalink
- Seems like we have the same conundrum for our Memorial Day, “happy” just ain’t right….
I like RebecaH’s, seems perfectly respectful. like a toast.
I’ve heard one from the American military that would fit, “To absent companions” everyone else replies “absent companions” drains their glass and places it upside down on the bar/table
Posted by Old Tanker on 2007 04 25 at 11:50 AM • permalink
- #54 Good first comment!Posted by flying pigs over mecca on 2007 04 25 at 12:30 PM • permalink
- God bless you all from the daughter of a WWII vet who served along side Aussie troops and spoke of them always in glowing terms. Never forget.Posted by Kyda Sylvester on 2007 04 25 at 01:05 PM • permalink
- Went to the Darwin Dawn Service this morning (oops, that’s now yesterday morning! Damn the cricket!) Missed it last year due to cyclone induced cancellation. It never fails to move me, there is something about the mystique of morning over the service, the catafalque party at position around the centotaph and the old and not so old Diggers there, almost like a changing of the guard. For our American friends who may not know, the Japanese task force that hit Pearl Harbour in December ‘41 bombed Darwin in February ‘42. So I also spare a thought for the US servicemen who lost their lives in our harbour, from the USS Perry and others. To the ANZACs and all our allies,
Lest We Forget.
- 25th Infantry Division hasn’t forgotten the ANZACs…Posted by Major John on 2007 04 25 at 02:25 PM • permalink
- ……At the going down of the sun……
I crouched in a shallow trench on that hell of exposed beaches… steeply rising foothills bare of cover… a landscape pockmarked with war’s inevitable litter… piles of stores… equipment… ammunition… and the weird contortions of death sculptured in Australian flesh… I saw the going down of the sun on that first ANZAC Day… the chaotic maelstrom of Australia’s blooding.
I fought in the frozen mud of the Somme… in a blazing destroyer exploding on the North Sea… I fought on the perimeter at Tobruk… crashed in the flaming wreckage of a fighter in New Guinea… lived with the damned in the place cursed with the name Changi.
I was your mate… the kid across the street… the med. student at graduation… the mechanic in the corner garage… the baker who brought you bread… the gardener who cut your lawn… the clerk who sent your phone bill.
I was an Army private… a Naval commander… an Air Force bombardier. no man knows me… no name marks my tomb, for I am every Australian serviceman… I am the Unknown Soldier.
I died for a cause I held just in the service of my land… that you and yours may say in freedom… I am proud to be an Australian.
…………..The Ode…………..
They shall grow not 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 will remember them.
- I’ll hoist at least one cold, alcoholic beverage tonight to the memories of all those brave Aussie and Kiwi soldiers who have served, or are currently serving….but especially to those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
Ladies and gentlemen, to absent companions!
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2007 04 25 at 07:03 PM • permalink
- I suggest “have a thoughtful ANZAC Day”.Posted by andycanuck on 2007 04 25 at 07:24 PM • permalink
- #63,
absent companions!!
*gulp* *flip* *clunk*
Posted by Old Tanker on 2007 04 25 at 07:36 PM • permalink
- This year, I kept it lowkey. Spent the day with my siblings having a good barby lunch and going over papers left over from Mum and Dad that hadn’t yet been sorted.
I now have my mum’s certificate of discharge from the Army, my dad’s badge designating him a US Army instructor and sundry other bits and pieces.
For the first time in ages I didn’t watch the Anzac Day March on the teev.
First Anzac Day without Dad was a strange feeling. Sure we laughed at all his id tags from the 60s amd 70s (he had hair!) but I remember the first time he marched with the Vietnam Vets down Swanston Street years ago. I took loads of pictures and bawled my eyes out.
I cry every Anzac Day, when I think of how many have died, how many gave their lives, and how many of us today would never have been if their dads (and mums in some cases) hadn’t come home.
As for the girls defacing the memorial in Bathurst?
I’m all for bringing back cadetships and nasho. Let them do some hard time and learn a few things about what it means to have respect and a love for your country and your people.
Let them spend some time with Diggers learning about the real world.
Jules, thanks for your post, too.
Needless to say it got me sooky again.
Posted by Nilknarf Arbed on 2007 04 26 at 01:16 AM • permalink
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