Well 25 April is with us again and again we have Anzac Day; its 90 th anniversary. This was the day Australian and New Zealand troops went ashore at Gallipoli along with Kim’s grandfather, only to be massecred by the Turks.
It was our first action back in 1919 in WW1 as a country, we were only federated in 1901. Australia like USA was group of states that got together to become a country.
The Turks are quite incredible; they have said that our fallen young men are their fallen young men and to this end they are the only Axis powered troops to be allowed to March in our Anzac day marches.
God Bless the Aussies and New Zealand troops! We Americans are fortunate and honored that you are our allies.
My dad was an engineering officer at a base in the CBI theater that supported C-46s and C-47s flying over the Hump in WW II. He was not a man that was impressed easily but he had great admiration for the courage, skill and humor of the Aussie and New Zealand troops and pilots that stopped at his base.
On an even stranger note.
At the last place in Australia many Australian soldiers saw in 1915
Albany West Australia.
Now stands a statue of Kamal Atta Turk (Spelling ??) the Turkish comander at Galipoli later the father of modern Turkey.
It is the only case I know of where an enemy comander is honoured by both sides of a war.
This gives an idea of how the Australians view that 8 months of battle
out of which came two nations who both fought with honour, some sort of Humanity and fairness in a situation of pure horror that probably none of us can truly comprehend.
It is fitting and proper the Turks share the day as they do.
let us also remember the Honourable enemy as we remember our own
for all are at peace now and the guns are silent and they are ours too.
regards John
With that cleared up…
I echo all of those sentiments & give thought to our Oz soldiers currently serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Solomon Islands & East Timor, as well as those on active duty today in Northern Territory as Cyclone Monica threatens to blow Darwin off the map.
Dan, my great uncle was also stationed in China on the recieving end of the Hump during WW2, dont know too much about it, he saw too much and took his own life shortly after the war was over so we never knew much about his service experiences, except that they were traumatic. Post traumatic stress syndrome they call it now, really had no name for it back them, guess they were just expected to forget all the horror that they saw and ‘get on with it’. Some things can never be forgotton.
My hat is always off to all veterans of all wars. Cheers!
My dad also suffered post traumatic stress syndrome. For years he became extremely depressed any time it got foggy. Only late in his life did he tell me it was because when it got foggy in India, he lost planes on take offs and landings. I think that’s why he moved the family to Tucson when I was a young pup.
I know a number of my wifes freinds who had husbands that served in Vietnam. none of the marriages survived and they all say the same thing. “A different man came back to the one that went away” So it must have been really bad for them.
I was too young for Korea and too old for Vietnam; but i was a trained infantry soldier in national service whne Korea flared up again in about 1957 and i volenteered when they called for soldiers to go to Korea.
What John had to say about the Turkish leader (I can’t spell his name either) he was a great man; decent, honest and deserved many other accolades as well.