Anne TootillAnzac Day - Not just another public holiday
April 21st 2008 05:27
On Anzac Day, 25th of April, right across Australia, in big cities and small country towns, all our returned soldiers march proudly down their front streets. Naturally the numbers are getting smaller and smaller every year and I wonder what will happen when there is no one left. I do not agree that children or grand children of soldiers who served should be allowed to march on their behalf, they weren't there, it's got nothing to do with them.
ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps and commorates soldiers who landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey early on the morning of 25 April 1915 during the First World War (1914-1918). It was a blood bath, the Anzacs were massacred by the Turks. But we are not celebrating a defeat, it's more a tribute to mateship. Those men must have known how dire their situation was but they stayed put and helped each other until the bitter end.
Of course there are no World War I diggers left now and the World War 2 veterans are getting so old, they are having trouble completing the march so they travel in open jeeps. But the Vietnam vets are still very much still alive and turn out in force.
For this one day of the year only, the authorities legalise a certain gambling game called Two Up which was very popular with the First and Second World War diggers. Aussies are notorious gamblers and on this day you are legally allowed to bet with other people in the pub, (usually out the back) on whether two coins are going to land heads up or tails up. You've probably heard the saying 'Come in spinner'. I had a great winning streak on heads one day but ended up losing the lot, I never know when to walk away. Combine this with large amounts of alcohol and Anzac Day is usually a very happy day.
Every year, thousands of young Aussies and Kiwis make their way to Anzac Cove in Turkey on the 25th April to pay tribute to those who died here in this terrible bloody battle.
Anzac Day isn't glorifying war as some people may think. It's a day to acknowledge and respect all those who served and returned home safely and to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice, never to return. Thanks.
Lest We forget
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