April 25th, ANZAC day.
ANZAC day had its origin on April 25, 1915, when a large, allied force which included 16,0000 New Zealand and Australian troops landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula. The Australians and New Zealanders fought side by side until those who had survived were evacuated, in defeat, after 8 months of fighting. More than 8700 Australian and 2770 New Zealand troops had died.
In the wider story of the First World War, the Gallipoli campaign made no large mark. The number of dead across the whole Gallipoli campaign (87,000 Ottoman and 44,000 Allied troops) pales in comparison with the death toll in Belgium and France during the war. Yet the campaign remains significant in New Zealand, Australia and Turkey, being viewed as a formative moment in each country’s national history. And from it have grown strong and enduring bonds between the two ANZAC countries that remain today.
Since 1916, April 25th has been the day New Zealanders and Australians have set aside to remember and respect the efforts of so many of their armed forces personnel in the pursuit of peace for the world, of increasing the prospects of a peaceful future for everyone. To remember the friends, relations, comrades who died in that pursuit.
As a child I can remember the solemnity of the occasions, the dawn parades, the eulogies, the sense of unity and togetherness that was so strongly expressed at ANZAC day events. Never an occasion to glorify war, as some would position it. Certainly not an opportunity to denigrate the memory of those who worked so hard to create a world where freedom is championed rather than suppressed.
This year I was in Australia on ANZAC day and I was able to witness the depth of the Australian response to the formal acknowledgement of this part of our mutual history. It seems that Australia and New Zealand are very similar in the significance and respect they show in remembering the events from 109 years ago – and remembering all those who have served and died in similar circumstances since then, being thankful to all of them for their contribution toward creating the world we have today.
ANZAC Day gatherings or acknowledgements may be 100 people gathered in the chilly dawn at a cenotaph in a small country town, 20,000 people at a national war memorial, much larger numbers gathered at packed a sports stadium later in the day, or any number gathered for this purpose on April 25th anywhere else around the world. But at all of these, the absolute silence that descends and the sense of remembrance, reflection and respect when the ANZAC Ode is delivered and the bugle plays, are profound and very moving.
We will remember them.