ANZAC DAY

[Otho]

Total, 100% respect to all the brave soldiers who died at Gallipoli.

As a matter of historical record, not opinion: the politician who personally ordered that catastrophic waste of life was the great British statesman, Winston Churchill.

[Road Runner]

True  -  but he was probably correct in that if the ships of the Royal Navy had arrived at Istambul then the Turks would probably have surrendered.

What he got wrong was that the original attacks in mid February and March 1915 were made by warships alone with no army landings taking place.

If they had made a properly co-ordinated attack using ships, the army and perhaps aircraft then the Turks would have lost and the aim would have been achieved.

Unfortunately by April 1915 the Turks had more ammunition  -  more guns  -  more troops and they had seriously improved their defences.

RR.

[donnnnnny]

Eric BOgle   wrote  a song  called the Band Played walt Sing Matilda  .Brings a tear to my eyes every time i hear it
HIstorically  the Anzacs were about 60%  British or irish born and were all volunteers. Most thought it was a way of getting a free trip back to the mother country. Back then Australia  and New Zeland  still thought along the lines of  doing it  for King and Country(great britain). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG48F...eature=related
I like Anzac day today were we play two up and have a few beers in memory of all those who fell to give us freedom
cheers to the diggers    

[Road Runner]

The federated states of Australia became a sovereign country on the 1st January 1901.
The first country in the British Empire to gain it's independance by legal means.

On the 25th of April 1915 at Gallipoli they came of age.  But what a bloody awful way to do it!

So far as I know none of my immediate Australian family fought in WW1  -  by a quirk of fate they were all either too young or too old.

In WW2 two of my family died during the war and one after.

My mother's brother was an aircraftsman in the RAAF and he was one of the ground crew left behind when the last Australian aircraft were flown out of Java in 1942.
After capture by the Japanese he worked on the railway in Thailand and later was the selected to be shipped back to Japan on one of the hellships.
It was sunk by a US submarine in Sept 1944  -  his school friend who was with him survived but he did not.

The other two both married my mother's sister.  The first one was a Captain in the Australian Army - he lost his life fighting the Germans in the Libyan desert in 1941.
The second one came home after spending three years in captivity by the Japanese.  As 'punishment' they had bayoneted him in the  stomache which somehow he survived.
He survived 5 years after the end of the war  -  from a stomache ulcer which was a result of his treatment.

RR.

[smoo]

Gallipoli was only the beginning. In the Aussies in thenext battle ar Fromelles lost more in a week than in the entire Gallipoli campaign and it just got worse after that.

[donnnnnny]

My grandfather  was in flanders
engineers and tank core, survived the somme pashendale and the mud of flanders.
We judge those  from past times by our own standards of today.We should not  do this.

[Road Runner]

(donnnnnny @ Apr. 25 2008,23:21) We judge those  from past times by our own standards of today.We should not  do this.

Yes - I entirely agree

I canot count the number of times I have seen or read of people trying to apply their values to things that happened many years ago.


RR.

[vangough05]

Another Ausssie digger lost his life in Afgahnaastan today.

Bloody tribal wars. The Afghans have been killing each other for hundreds of years. Why in the fuck do we need to get involved.

Lest we forget.

[Stewart]

Bloody tribal wars. The Afghans have been killing each other for hundreds of years. Why in the fuck do we need to get involved.

Are you really that naive?

We are not in there to sort out tribal wars, we are in there to make it difficult for that place to be used as a safe haven and training ground for people who want to come and kill us

[vangough05]

(Stewart @ Apr. 28 2008,10:43)

Bloody tribal wars. The Afghans have been killing each other for hundreds of years. Why in the fuck do we need to get involved.

Are you really that naive?

We are not in there to sort out tribal wars, we are in there to make it difficult for that place to be used as a safe haven and training ground for people who want to come and kill us

Obviously you beleive everything George W tells you.

Shit, i can see talaban coming down my garden path, fuck me, i'll be right back

[post-op lover]

(vangough05 @ Apr. 28 2008,10:05) Shit, i can see talaban coming down my garden path, fuck me, i'll be right back

Yeah, I wish they'd stay off my lawn too! They're always humping the gnomes.

POL

[daveduke007]

I had a family get together Saturday when my Aunt (dads sister) and my Uncle were over from Australia.

Me and my Unc get on like a "house on fire" and were talking all night.

We did get on to the subject of Anzac Day and he told me a story of my Granfather (who fought in Burma) and his Uncle (an Anzac that was in New Guinea)

My Grandfather was over in in 1969 for their wedding and met this guy then.
My Uncle recollects that they were in sober conversation for hours together and pretty obviously talking about both their escapades during the war.

This was probaly the only time my Grandfather ever discussed what went on in Burma

[Stewart]

(vangough05 @ Apr. 28 2008,12:05)

(Stewart @ Apr. 28 2008,10:43)

Bloody tribal wars. The Afghans have been killing each other for hundreds of years. Why in the fuck do we need to get involved.

Are you really that naive?

We are not in there to sort out tribal wars, we are in there to make it difficult for that place to be used as a safe haven and training ground for people who want to come and kill us

Obviously you beleive everything George W tells you.

Far from it actually

apologies.....i forgot everything was George W's fault. Stupid of me.

[terryw]

I was in Istanbul last month and went with my mother on a day trip to Galipoli. Her grandfather fought there in the British army - he survived.

I have seen war graves before in France and South East Asia. What struck me was that Galipoli was geographically a stupid place to invade a country. With its high cliffs and narrow sea access it was a defending army's dream location.

The quote about lions being led by donkeys dressed as generals seemed very apt.

[Dieter]

What should I tell you, my father and my uncles all in the SS...from my mothers side all uncles also...Grandpas and and and...

And me??

Dieter