Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Today in history, lest we forget.

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Today in history, lest we forget.

    My apologies for posting this early but I suspect I'm going to be too busy tomorrow.

    25 April 1915.
    On this day 90 years ago British Empire and French forces stormed ashore at Gallipoli in an attempt to take the Dardanelles from Turkey and allow the Royal Navy to steam to the very gates of Constantinople. On the 19th and 20th of December the troops were finally withdrawn, of the 500,000 troops landed 300,000 were casualties. Best estimates were that 250,000 Turks were killed. New Zealand suffered 7,500 casualties 2,721 of whom were killed (1 in four of the total landed). During the attack and taking of Chunuk Bair on the 8th of August and the next day, of the 760 men of the Wellington Battalion who had captured the height that morning, there came out only 70 unwounded or slightly wounded men. Even greater losses were experienced later in WWI, for instance the battle for Passchendaele when New Zealand lost 3,700 killed, 1000 on one day alone. With a total population of just 1 million, 100,000 served with greater than 60,000 casualties.
    The rights and wrongs of the Gallipoli campaign are far better explained elsewhere than I can manage but this date quickly became a public "holiday" in New Zealand, in time becoming a day set aside to remember the sacrifices of those New Zealanders who fought for their country in all the wars including and subsequent to this campaign.
    For those who have grown up in or visited New Zealand one of the striking things is the large number of war memorials scattered through every city, town and hamlet of our country. In my old home town of Oamaru there are two large granite monuments on the main street, one each in Weston, Ngapara, Enfield, Maheno, Herbert and Duntroon. More can be found in the countryside, not anywhere near any hamlet but simply on a back-country crossroad. Each is inscribed with 5 or 10 or 100 or more names, often with several members of the same family listed. I was once asked by a German tourist "everywhere I look there are war memorials, what was so great about the war?". The answer is of course nothing, they are not War memorials, they are tombstones, the bodies lie in the fields of Europe, their families built these here because the bodies never came home.
    The 25th of April is more than any other our national day, a day in which we remember at dawn those who gave their lives for our country.
    Kia Ora te Tangata Whenua o Aotearoa, Kia Ora.

    "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 will remember them"
    In the realm of spirit, seek clarity; in the material world, seek utility.

    Leibniz

  • #2
    Good post...
    No man is free until all men are free - John Hossack
    I agree completely with this Administration’s goal of a regime change in Iraq-John Kerry
    even if that enforcement is mostly at the hands of the United States, a right we retain even if the Security Council fails to act-John Kerry
    He may even miscalculate and slide these weapons off to terrorist groups to invite them to be a surrogate to use them against the United States. It’s the miscalculation that poses the greatest threat-John Kerry

    Comment


    • #3
      Indeed. Lest we forget.
      Where's the bloody gin? An army marches on its liver, not its ruddy stomach.

      Comment


      • #4
        The Citation

        On 7-8 July 1941, while returning from one of the attack’s on Munster, Sergeant James Ward of No 75 (NZ) Squadron was second pilot in a Wellington attacked by an Me 110 over the Zuider Zee. The rear-gunner was wounded, much damage done, the starboard wing set ablaze. The crew were preparing to abandon the aircraft when Ward volunteered to go out on the wing and try to smother the flames with a cockpit cover which had served in the plane as a cushion.

        Attached to a rope and with the help of the navigator, he climbed through the narrow astro-hatch - far from easy in flying gear, even on the ground - put on his parachute, kicked holes in the Wellington’s covering fabric to get foot and hand-holds on the geodetic lattices, and descended three feet to the wing. He then worked his way along to behind the engine, and, despite the fierce slipstream from the propeller, managed while lying down, to smother the fire. Isolated from the leaking petrol pipe, this later burnt itself out.

        Ward, exhausted, regained the astro-hatch with great difficulty: ‘the hardest of the lot,’ he wrote, ‘was getting my right leg in. In the end the navigator reached out and pulled it in.’ Despite all the damage, the crew got home to a safe landing - perhaps the most remarkable thing, apart from Ward’s exploit, being the fact that the pilot had no idea at the time what Ward was doing.
        At the time he won his Victoria Cross, in July 1941, Wanganui-born Sgt Ward had been with 75 (NZ) Squadron RAF a bare six months and was on only his sixth mission over enemy territory.

        Sadly, just 10-weeks later, in September 1941, and before he had even been presented with his VC, he was killed in action over Germany.
        In the realm of spirit, seek clarity; in the material world, seek utility.

        Leibniz

        Comment


        • #5
          And for our brothers across the tasman

          Now when I was a young man I carried me pack
          And I lived the free life of the rover.
          From the Murray's green basin to the dusty outback,
          Well, I waltzed my Matilda all over.
          Then in 1915, my country said, "Son,
          It's time you stop ramblin', there's work to be done."
          So they gave me a tin hat, and they gave me a gun,
          And they marched me away to the war.

          And the band played "Waltzing Matilda,"
          As the ship pulled away from the quay,
          And amidst all the cheers, the flag waving, and tears,
          We sailed off for Gallipoli.

          And how well I remember that terrible day,
          How our blood stained the sand and the water;
          And of how in that hell that they call Suvla Bay
          We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter.
          Johnny Turk, he was waitin', he primed himself well;
          He showered us with bullets, and he rained us with shell --
          And in five minutes flat, he'd blown us all to hell,
          Nearly blew us right back to Australia.

          But the band played "Waltzing Matilda,"
          When we stopped to bury our slain,
          Well, we buried ours, and the Turks buried theirs,
          Then we started all over again.

          And those that were left, well, we tried to survive
          In that mad world of blood, death and fire.
          And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive
          Though around me the corpses piled higher.
          Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head,
          And when I woke up in me hospital bed
          And saw what it had done, well, I wished I was dead --
          Never knew there was worse things than dying.

          For I'll go no more "Waltzing Matilda,"
          All around the green bush far and free --
          To hump tents and pegs, a man needs both legs,
          No more "Waltzing Matilda" for me.

          So they gathered the crippled, the wounded, the maimed,
          And they shipped us back home to Australia.
          The armless, the legless, the blind, the insane,
          Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla.
          And as our ship sailed into Circular Quay,
          I looked at the place where me legs used to be,
          And thanked Christ there was nobody waiting for me,
          To grieve, to mourn and to pity.

          But the band played "Waltzing Matilda,"
          As they carried us down the gangway,
          But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared,
          Then they turned all their faces away.

          And so now every April, I sit on my porch
          And I watch the parade pass before me.
          And I see my old comrades, how proudly they march,
          Reviving old dreams of past glory,
          And the old men march slowly, all bones stiff and sore,
          They're tired old heroes from a forgotten war
          And the young people ask "What are they marching for?"
          And I ask meself the same question.

          But the band plays "Waltzing Matilda,"
          And the old men still answer the call,
          But as year follows year, more old men disappear
          Someday, no one will march there at all.

          Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda.
          Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?
          And their ghosts may be heard as they march by the billabong,
          Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me?


          -Eric Bogle
          In the realm of spirit, seek clarity; in the material world, seek utility.

          Leibniz

          Comment


          • #6
            i had a great uncle who fought at galippoli ,for the irish regiment ended up wounded,shipped back home recovered then sent to Yrpes ,still there buried at Tyne Cot he was Corporal Jimmy Rea ,it is so sad because that war was slaughter a war to end wars ,so they said ,i recently visited his grave ,when you look at all those headstones and then the names on the walls ,its the most humbling expierance of my life,under the menin gate they still play the last post everyday as the sun is setting,that to me is special as the belgiums never forgot ,nor should we.

            Comment


            • #7
              And for our brothers across the Tasman

              Thanks Parihaka. The spirit of the ANZACs will be particularly strong today as many of us make our way to the dawn services at one of the war memorials scattered through out Australia and New Zealand. This time in 2005 my wife and I were in Ypres, Belgium. We knew about the playing of the last post at the Menin Gate each day by the Belgium firemen in memory of British Commonwealth troops who fell in Belgium during WW1 but we were amazed when a band playing Waltzing Matilda lead a parade through the town. It was very moving to see the Australian and New Zealand flags flying so far from home together with the wreath laying at the Menin Gate and the Cloth Hall Tower (the famous ruin, now restored, that features in many WW1 photos).

              The destruction by IEDs of one ASLAV and the severe damage of another, together with the wounding of three Australian soldiers in Iraq earlier today, is a timely reminder to all of us of the problems our servicemen and women face everyday as we commemorate Anzac Day.

              Lest we forget.
              Attached Files
              Learn from the past. Prepare for the future.

              Comment


              • #8
                The 'A' in ANZAC

                Pari,

                Thanks for your eloquent explanation of the origins of ANZAC Day & its significance to New Zealanders. I will attempt to do something similar from this side of the Tasman. Oh, and thanks for the Eric Bogle song, a fine piece of music from a son of Scotland, since adopted by Oz (a fine version of the song was also recorded by my Irish bretheren, the Pogues).

                In many ways Gallipoli was the fire in which the Australian nation was forged. In 1901 the 6 colonies of Australia had federated. Yet, 14 years on we still had no permenant capitol (parliament was still 'temporarily' housed in Melbourne). With the vast distances between a mere handful of major population centres (Sydney to Perth is equivalent to London to Moscow) The 5 million people of Australia were still wedded as much to their state as their nation. What they were sure of was that they were 'British', so when war came in 1914 Australia joined enthusiastically. Within a year PM Andrew Fischer would promise to fight to 'the last man & the last shilling'. To many young men it was a chance for travel & adventure. Most would learn a terrible lesson about modern warfare.

                Together with our bretheren in New Zealand, Australians were formed into the Australian & New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC). The troops headed for Egypt, where they trained in the shadow of the Pyramids & awaited orders. When they came, the enemy was not the dreaded Hun, but the Turk. As with Pari, I won't bore you with a re-run of the ill-fated Gallipoli campagn, except to say that over 85,000 Turkish Soldiers & over 45,000 Allied died. On the Allied side 10,000 were French & 21,000 British and 8700 Australian (with another 19,000 Aussies wounded).

                It was a terrible baptism for a young nation. Yet, it was also the birth of a sense of nationhood. This feeling was fuelled by a sense of shared sacrifice, a pride in having stood up to be counted among nations, and the prosaic words of journalists such as Charles Bean & Keith Murdoch (yes, father of...). We had shown our bravery at battles like Lone Pine, where over 2200 Australians died in 4 days, or the Nek, where 2 battalions of the Light Horse (600 men) lost over 400 dead within minutes. Gallipoli was also a training ground for our greatest soldier & one of the most able Allied commanders of the war - Sir John Monash.

                From Gallipoli Australians went on to fight in France & Belgium. Names such as Fromelles, Pozieres, Messines, Ypres & Villers Bretonneux soon became etched in the national memory. At Fromelles & Pozieres alone, Australia suffered more dead & wounded in a few weeks than during the whole Gallipoli campaign. Yet this suffering also produced greatness. The ANZACs went from being expendable colonial troops to the elite of the British forces. In 1918 it was Monash who, commanding a mixed force of 150,000 ANZACs, Canadians & Americans, and pioneering the coordination of ground, air, tank & artillery forces, led the breakthroughs at Hamel & Amiens that ultimately led Germany to sue for peace.

                The 'butcher's bill' for Australia was terrible. Of 332,000 young men who served, 65,000 died & another 150,000 were wounded. This was a casualty rate 15% above that for other British forces, and a terrible shock for a young nation of 5 million. By comparison, during WW2, with a population of 7 million, we lost about 40,000 men. Mute testimony to the impact of the war can be found in any small town in Australia. Each & every one has a memorial listing the names of boys from the district who fell. Most are simple obelisks, others 'avenues of honour', with a tree planted for each life lost. In some areas virtually the entire population of young males were killed or wounded. Few families escaped untouched.

                Less than 10 years after the war Australia had its National capitol, in Canberra. Gallipoli & WW1 had transformed 6 former colonies into a nation. The new capitol is home to he Australian War Memorial, where the names of over 100,000 Australians lost in war can be found. Also there are the words of the Turkish commander at Gallipoli, Mustafa Kemal. He went on to become Kemal Ataturk, father of modern Turkey. In 1934 he showed just how profound had been the impact of the bravery of the young ANZACs against whom he had fought. These words can also be found on a memorial at Gallipoli:

                "Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives... You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side now here in this country of ours... you, the mothers, who sent their sons from faraway countries wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land. They have become our sons as well."
                sigpic

                Win nervously lose tragically - Reds C C

                Comment


                • #9
                  A sombre gratitude for our antipodean brothers in arms. Gallipoli, Messines, Cassino, Kokoda; the memory of their bravery will not fade.

                  Thanks,
                  Cato

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Halt Traveller!

                    To a Traveller!

                    If you enter the Strait of Dardanelles from Aegean Sea you will see on the right the Hills of Canakkale and on the left the Gallipoli Peninsula. On the Hills of Canakkale you will notice a warning in capital letters colored with white chalk
                    " Halt Traveller!"
                    This warns all people who desires to enter the Dardanelles without permission. In March 18th 1915 British and French tried to enter the dardanelles without permission and paid their desires with blood and heavy losses. After that bloody fight a Turkish poet called Necmettin Halil Onan wrote the following poem. The poem is translated into English by Tanwir Wasti. published by the March 18th University Magazine 2003

                    To a Traveller

                    Stop wayfarer ! Unbeknownst to you this ground
                    You come and tread on, is where an epoch lies;
                    Bend down and lend your ear, for this silent mound
                    Is the place where the heart of a nation sighs

                    To the left of this deserted shadeless lane
                    The Anatolian slope now observe you well;
                    For liberty and honor, it is, in pain,
                    Where wounded Mehmet (x) laid down his and fell

                    This very mound, when violently shhok the land,
                    When the last bit of earth passed from hand to hand,
                    And when Mehmet drowned the enemy in flood,
                    Is the spot where he added his own pure blood.

                    Think, the consecrated blood and flesh and bone
                    That make up this mould, is where a whole nation,
                    After a harsh and pitiless war, alone,
                    Tasted the joyje of freedom with elation.

                    (x) Mehmet is the commen name given to Turkish Soldier.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      ANZAC day

                      Well, another good turnout this year at the dawn service. To all our soldiers serving in Timor-Leste, Afghanistan and elsewhere around the globe, I salute you and your Australian comrades and thank you for your service to our country.
                      In the realm of spirit, seek clarity; in the material world, seek utility.

                      Leibniz

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        From an American across the seas, I salute all of you from wars past and present.


                        From John Simpson, Ted Matthews to The Lighthorse Men
                        From James Allen Ward to Charles Upham to Bruce Kingsbury to Bernard Freyberg
                        From PJ Badcoe to Moananui-a-Kiwa Ngarimu

                        You have a proud history of valor and friendship from the trenches to the Kokoda to the Bismark Sea to Korea to Long Tan to the Balkans through Iraq and Afghanistan

                        Congratulations on ANZAC Day

                        In the words of a former enemy

                        THE ANZAC MEMORIAL

                        Those heroes that shed their blood And lost their lives...
                        You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country.
                        Therefore, rest in peace.
                        There is no difference between the Johnnies
                        And the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side,
                        Here in this country of ours.
                        You, the mothers, who sent their sons from far away countries...
                        Wipe away your tears.
                        Your sons are now lying in our bosom And are in peace.
                        After having lost their lives on this land, they have
                        Become our sons as well.
                        “Loyalty to country ALWAYS. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it.”
                        Mark Twain

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          From a proud Brit. I am so proud of our ANZAC brothers. I will NEVER forget. I have made a point of educating my daughter about the sacrifice in life, that our allies and brothers have made long ago. They are ALL heroes, thank you PARI` for posting this thread.

                          God bless them all. To all in New Zealand and Australia, enjoy your day, be proud. I will be raising a glass or two in their honour, to be sure.
                          "Liberty is a thing beyond all price.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            neat to see three national views of the same battle, honors on Anzac day.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Tin Man View Post
                              From a proud Brit. I am so proud of our ANZAC brothers. I will NEVER forget. I have made a point of educating my daughter about the sacrifice in life, that our allies and brothers have made long ago. They are ALL heroes, thank you PARI` for posting this thread.

                              God bless them all. To all in New Zealand and Australia, enjoy your day, be proud. I will be raising a glass or two in their honour, to be sure.

                              Thanks Tin Man.

                              An emotional day for us all. I always think of my grandfather, who never full came to terms with what he saw in New Guinea. His brother, my uncle, fought in Malaya & survived the Thai-Burma Railroad. Not sure if he marched today, but he remains a proud digger.

                              wow! as I am writing this a member of my Uncle's unit is actually being interviewed on TV! the 2/29th Battalion lost over 600 dead in Malaya and another 1000 taken prisoner in Singapore. Most of those men went first to Changi POW camp, then to the 'Death Railway'. When they came home they formed a brotherhood to support each other. They visited the families of the dead to tell them about their loved ones. To this day, when one of the veterans dies, the secretary of the association writes a letter about the man to his family. There are less than a dozen of them alive today. Remarkable men.

                              One of my favourite parts of the ANZAC Day parae is the last section - where veterans of other nations march. Today I saw Kiwis, Poles, Albanians, Ceylonese (as they still call themselves), Americans, Indians, italians, South Vietnamese, Turks and, of course, Brits. What I love about these proud men is that they remind us that even on a day dedicated to the memory of Australians, we are nothing without our great friends and Allies.

                              Whatever our differences, we stand together when it matters.
                              Last edited by Bigfella; 25 Apr 08,, 04:39.
                              sigpic

                              Win nervously lose tragically - Reds C C

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X