25 April is ANZAC day.
This was the day in
1915 when Australian, New Zealand and British forces landed on the Turkish
coast at Gallipoli. It apparently seemed like a good idea at the time.
They stayed for a
while, were massacred in their droves and eventually left.
The Australians and
the Kiwis were so upset by the whole shemozzle that we initiated ANZAC day
which is the day each year when we remember the fallen.
On 25 April our
veterans march, play two-up and possibly get hammered. There are no WW1 veterans
left alive but fortunately there have been lots more wars since then so the tradition
continues.
Boldly planned by some
British nincompoops sitting in London drinking tea and eating scones – the landing
at Gallipoli was a complete, absolute and gold-plated fiasco.
The combined forces
were driven off the peninsula by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk who was then the
relatively junior commander of the Turkish forces at Gallipoli and who later
became the founder of the Republic of Turkey – and its first President.
He took the whole
Gallipoli thing rather well considering the number of his ‘Mehmets’ that the
invaders killed - and later built the above memorial at Anzac Cove.
I will be glad when my child is completely finished with this tour of duty, soon.
ReplyDeleteesb: Yes - I will be glad when ALL Australian and US service people are safely home.
ReplyDeleteI saw something the other day on facebook (sometimes people put great stuff on there!) that said if grandmothers ruled [countries] there would be no more war. Unfortunately, I think the nincompoops have cornered the market on ruling.
ReplyDeleteLest we forget.
Sandy: They sure have the market sewn up here.
ReplyDelete