Today is the day our town awakes before dawn and remembers the sacrifices our men and women have an are still making in their lives to make our life free and safe.
To see what my Grandpa Bill did during WW2, you can click on THIS LINK. Of course, much of what went on will never be published, but you can see how far many men and women had to travel to defend our country. What is wonderful is the fact we had wonderful allies and to this day Aussies don't forget who their mates are. The American forces were thankful we arrived in many areas to give their troops some R&R and likewise, without the powers of the American Navy in the Pacific, we could all have very well been speaking and looking quite Japanese!(And..no I am not racist, I love everyone ok!)
Yes, today is a special day, and if I had my Grandad's medals I'd have taken my kids to the march. I did march and assist with the parade many times as a cadet...I hope my kids will want to do the same thing when they reach the correct age.
Of course, today cannot go without saying how wonderful it is that the HMAS Sydney was discovered in its watery grave. How wonderful for the families of the sailor's who lost their lives..now they can remember in peace.
2 comments:
"If any question why we died,
Tell them,
because our fathers lied"
Rudyard Kipling for his Son, John who died in WW1.
The incomprehensible needless squandering and waste of human life in WW1 sickens me. My grandfather' cousin was the Belgian Flying Ace and my Grandfather fled his homeland when the Nazis came into power in nearby Germany..he said he knew that they would be coming back.
Two of my favorite films are Gallipoli and Breaker Morant..they are both the kind of movies that make you want to get on a plane and go burn down Buckingham Palace.
Churchill completely f*cked up at gallipoli and yet was begged out of retirement to come and rescue the Ntion in WW2...bizarre twist of events.
The 20th Century was the War Century and we seem to have learned nothing at all from the experience. I also find it totally ironic that our former enemies, Germany and Japan, are now two of closest allies.
We are a ridiculous f*cking species.
Can you imagine Iraq and Iran being our Allies and two of our closest trading partners in 60 years? It's Governments who lie to us and kill our Fathers, Uncles, Brothers and Sons.
Donn is right...Gallopilli was Chruchill and England's shame and the colonials were sent like lambs to the slaughter...in a Eurocentric world in those days anything decreed by the northern hemisphere western nations was law almost and we were conned into too much...this too is the spirit of ANZAC and why I go down there...to honour the class wars which have seen the working class men and women slaughtered by those in power who never evre get their hands dirty.
WW1 was the biggest class war of all and knocked the working class back over fifty years of hard won advances they had made in labour and education etc... Gaaahh
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