Anzac day

[loopy 0]

To all Australians and kiwis old and new let us remember.

If you are in any parades (as I am X british serviceman) have a good day and a game or two of 2 up.

[m1k3_ 0]

hey wot does anzac stand for? ...

Australia and New Zealand Army corps

this day is also for those in the NZ armed forces.

anyway back on topic. yeah lets remember those who gave  there lives for our great two nations and my thoughts especially go out to those Austrailians who are serving in iraq.

[Ex-RoNiN 0]

Happy Anzac day

I would like to express my deepest thanks and sympathy to the Anzac forces that helped us fight Nazi Germany in WW2 and also helped us otherwise

http://www.skp.com.au/memorials/pages/00002.htm

http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/Gallery/crete/index.htm

Many memorials on Crete remember the ultimate sacrifice of many Anzac soldiers during those dark days of 1941.

Thank you!

[IceFire 0]

Actually Anzac day is a day for the trees.

It is a day celebrated world wide where people go and plant trees.

I remember in elementary school when on Anzac day we would go and plant a new tree in the playground of the school.

It's nice to have a day reserved to pay respect to the trees which provide us with oxygen, clean air, beautiful scenery, shade, and a place for children to play in.

[Warin 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (IceFire @ April 24 2003,19:11)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Actually Anzac day is a day for the trees.

It is a day celebrated world wide where people go and plant trees.

I remember in elementary school when on Anzac day we would go and plant a new tree in the playground of the school.

It's nice to have a day reserved to pay respect to the trees which provide us with oxygen, clean air, beautiful scenery, shade, and a place for children to play in.<span id='postcolor'>

That's right... all of the vets in Australia and New Zealand have it wrong, and you're right

If this was an attempt at humour, it was not funny, nor appropriate.

In fact, I think you need a 24 hour vacation to ponder on the appropriateness of making stupid comments like this.

[Die Alive 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (IceFire @ April 24 2003,13:11)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Actually Anzac day is a day for the trees.

It is a day celebrated world wide where people go and plant trees.

I remember in elementary school when on Anzac day we would go and plant a new tree in the playground of the school.

It's nice to have a day reserved to pay respect to the trees which provide us with oxygen, clean air, beautiful scenery, shade, and a place for children to play in.<span id='postcolor'>

Arbor day is April 22, also known as Earth Day.

Also, don't some people (used to) plant trees on days like Anzac day or November 11, I've read somewhere it's a way of remembering those?

-=Die Alive=-

[FSPilot 0]

Happy ANZAC day!

[PitViper 0]

My respects to ANZAC soldiers

[Major Fubar 0]

In the warfields of Flanders, the Somme and of France,

The poppies are blooming, they sway and they dance.

Ten thousand Australians, all tanned and all fit

Have come to this Country, the enemy to hit.

The guns were all thundering, sombre and dull -

The infantry streaming, then so mournful a lull.

Our brave boys are falling courageous and strong

Hark! Something has happened, something is wrong!

The Light Horse are stumbling, shaken and falling -

They rally their mates on, true to their calling..

The battle swords clatter, the foes are retreating

The Aussies press onwards, their mission completing.

So throughout our great country, with pride our hearts turn

Our unknown soldier to us doth return

In the sunshine in Aussie, this day in November

Our Soldiers - our Heroes, we'll always remember!!!!

What is Anzac Day?

Anzac Day - 25 April - is probably Australia's most important national occasion. It marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War. ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. The soldiers in those forces quickly became known as Anzacs, and the pride they soon took in that name endures to this day.

Why is this day so special to Australians?

When war broke out in 1914 Australia had been a federal commonwealth for only fourteen years. The new national government was eager to establish its reputation among the nations of the world. In 1915 Australian and New Zealand soldiers formed part of the allied expedition that set out to capture the Gallipoli peninsula to open the way to the Black Sea for the allied navies. The plan was to capture Constantinople (now Istanbul), capital of the Ottoman Empire and an ally of Germany. They landed at Gallipoli on 25 April, meeting fierce resistance from the Turkish defenders. What had been planned as a bold stroke to knock Turkey out of the war quickly became a stalemate, and the campaign dragged on for eight months. At the end of 1915 the allied forces were evacuated after both sides had suffered heavy casualties and endured great hardships. Over 8,000 Australian soldiers were killed. News of the landing at Gallipoli made a profound impact on Australians at home and 25 April quickly became the day on which Australians remembered the sacrifice of those who had died in war.

The idea that some sort of "blood sacrifice" was a necessary rite of passage or initiation ceremony in the birth of a nation was common in the late Victorian and Edwardian period. In attempting the daunting task of storming the Gallipoli peninsula the Anzacs created an event which, it was felt, would help to shape the new Australia.

Early commemorations

The date, 25 April, was officially named Anzac Day in 1916; in that year it was marked by a wide variety of ceremonies and services in Australia, a march through London, and a sports day in the Australian camp in Egypt. In London, over 2,000 Australian and New Zealand troops marched through the streets of the city. A London newspaper headline dubbed them "The knights of Gallipoli". Marches were held all over Australia in 1916. Wounded soldiers from Gallipoli attended the Sydney march in convoys of cars, attended by nurses. For the remaining years of the war, Anzac Day was used as an occasion for patriotic rallies and recruiting campaigns, and parades of serving members of the AIF were held in most cities.

During the 1920s, Anzac Day became established as a national day of commemoration for the 60,000 Australians who died during the war. The first year in which all the States observed some form of public holiday together on Anzac Day was 1927. By the mid-1930s all the rituals we today associate with the day - dawn vigils, marches, memorial services, reunions, sly two-up games - were firmly established as part of Anzac Day culture.

With the coming of the Second World War, Anzac Day became a day on which to commemorate the lives of Australians lost in that war as well, and in subsequent years the meaning of the day has been further broadened to include Australians killed in all the military operations in which Australia has been involved.

Anzac Day was first commemorated at the Australian War Memorial in 1942, but due to government orders preventing large public gatherings in case of Japanese air attack, it was a small affair and was neither a march nor a memorial service. Anzac Day has been annually commemorated at the Australian War Memorial ever since.

What does it mean today?

Australians recognise 25 April as an occasion of national commemoration. Commemorative services are held at dawn, the time of the original landing, across the nation. Later in the day ex-servicemen and women meet and join in marches through the major cities and many smaller centres. Commemorative ceremonies are held at war memorials around the country. It is a day when Australians reflect on the many different meanings of war.

Dawn Service

The Dawn Service observed on Anzac Day has its origins in an operational routine which is still observed by the Australian Army today. The half-light of dawn plays tricks with soldiers' eyes and from the earliest times the half-hour or so before dawn, with all its grey, misty shadows, became one of the most favoured times for an attack. Soldiers in defensive positions were therefore woken up in the dark, before dawn, so that by the time the first dull grey light crept across the battlefield they were awake, alert and manning their weapons. This was, and still is, known as "Stand-to". It was also repeated at sunset.

After the First World War, returned soldiers sought the comradeship they felt in those quiet, peaceful moments before dawn. With symbolic links to the dawn landing at Gallipoli, a dawn stand-to or dawn ceremony became a common form of Anzac Day remembrance during the 1920s; the first official dawn service was held at the Sydney Cenotaph in 1927. Dawn services were originally very simple and followed the operational ritual; in many cases they were restricted to veterans only. The daytime ceremony was for families and other well-wishers, the dawn service was for old soldiers to remember and reflect among the comrades with whom they shared a special bond. Before dawn the gathered veterans would be ordered to "stand to" and two minutes of silence would follow. At the end of this time a lone bugler would play the "Last Post" and then concluded the service with "Reveille". In more recent times the families and young people have been encouraged to take part in dawn services, and services in Australian capital cities have seen some of the largest turnouts ever. Reflecting this change, the ceremonies have become more elaborate, incorporating hymns, readings, pipers and rifle volleys. Others, though, have retained the simple format of the dawn stand-to, familiar to so many soldiers.

The Anzac Day ceremony

Each year the commemorations follow a pattern that is familiar to each generation of Australians. A typical Anzac Day service contains the following features: introduction, hymn, prayer, an address, laying of wreaths, recitation, "The last post", a period of silence, "The rouse" or "The reveille", and the National Anthem. At the Australian War Memorial, following events such as the Anzac Day and Remembrance Day services, families often place red poppies beside the names of relatives on the Memorial's Roll of Honour.

[Col. Kurtz 0]

I did my minute of silence (probably a bit over since I was not counting) amd I'm wearing two poppies. I must say that the RSL (The Australian Returned Servicemen/women legue) put out better poppies than the NZ Returned Servicemen/women Asociation. The Australian ones are more realistic, whereas the NZ ones are pretty much flat.

I had realatives who were ANZACS, I believe ones of my Great Grandads fought at Gallipoli so I use this day to remember them and all those other ANZACS who were sent off to fight for King and Country.

I salute you!

*Edit* Good to see your still around loopy, good to see old faces here

[coporal_punishment 0]

Lets we forget both

both my grandfathers who were in the Royal Sikhs Regiment (RSR) from Punjab, India and severd amoung the ANZACs in the African Campaign before all ANZAC divisions apart from the 9th Division were sent back to fight the Japanese. If it wasn't for the ANZACs holding El-Alimain I think it is an important Habour, Rommel and his Africa Corps would have been able re-supply his front line troops whch had just past El-Alimain this could have quite possibily won the war for the Axis

For a small country Australia raised a large army for King George and suffered the most highest casulty per pecent of any army in world war 1. It was mainly that Australians were well adapted to harsh conditions unlike people from other territories from the empire and many Austrlians were sent as front like troops therefore this is why there were such a high percentage of casulties.