V is Victory and today is ANZAC day which stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corp which commemorates the service of all Australian and New Zealander troops but most particularly refers to the force that fatefully and tragically invaded the Turkish held peninsula of Gallipoli in 1915. The ANZAC's were sent out of the trenches and into the decimating fire of the Turkish guns at the command of the English. I can't speak for the NZ'rs and not even for all Aussies but I know for me this signifies the beginning of the end of the British Empire. They screwed us with a monarchy (royally) and when this was followed up by the withdrawal from the Pacific when Singapore fell in 1942 we were no longer committed to the Empire... we knew that our future lay in alliances with the US, not with Britain. I can't blame them for covering their own arses but nor can I deny it happened.
My grandfather was at Gallipoli in 1915, they are all dead now the WW1 veterans, but every 25th of April we think of them, and I, at least quietly, utter the words... "Lest we forget."
"They shall grow not old
As we that are left grow old
Age shall not weary them
Nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun
And in the morning
We will remember them.
Lest we forget."
Virtuous and Virtually
will never kiss
one is too good and the other a near miss.
What a wonderful way to remember . . .
ReplyDeleteA little bit of history I never knew. I'm trying to visit all the A-Z Challenge Blogs in April. My alphabet is at myqualityday.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteYes... those brave young men sallying forth for an adventure for King and Country... for a war that was sure to be over by Christmas. So full of hope, travelling halfway across the world to fight only to die on Turkish shores in a massacre. You see photos of these young Aussie and Kiwi soldiers and your heart twists; they had no idea what they were getting themselves into. I don't think anyone did.
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