Anzac Day - April 25

[tdw]

Commemorates the landing by the combined Australian and New Zealand Army Corps at Gallipolli April 25 1914. The beginning of Australia and New Zealand's involvement in the First World War from 1914 - 1918.

Thousands died and tens of thousands more in the years that followed.

"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."

(Sorry, it was April 1915 not 14)

[Valiente]

When I was a young man I carried my pack
And I lived the free life of a rover
From the Murrays green basin to the dusty outback
I waltzed my Matilda all over
Then in nineteen fifteen my country said Son
It's time to stop rambling 'cause there's work to be done
So they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun
And they sent me away to the war
And the band played Waltzing Matilda
As we sailed away from the quay
And amidst all the tears and the shouts and the cheers
We sailed off to Gallipoli

How well I remember that terrible day
How the blood stained the sand and the water
And how in that hell that they called Suvla Bay
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter
Johnny Turk he was ready, he primed himself well
He chased us with bullets, he rained us with shells
And in five minutes flat he'd blown us all to hell
Nearly blew us right back to Australia
But the band played Waltzing Matilda
As we stopped to bury our slain
We buried ours and the Turks buried theirs
Then we started all over again

Now those that were left, well we tried to survive
In a mad world of blood, death and fire
And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive
But around me the corpses piled higher
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over tit
And when I woke up in my hospital bed
And saw what it had done, I wished I was dead
Never knew there were worse things than dying
For no more I'll go waltzing Matilda
All around the green bush far and near
For to hump tent and pegs, a man needs two legs
No more waltzing Matilda for me

So they collected the cripples, the wounded, the maimed
And they shipped us back home to Australia
The armless, the legless, the blind, the insane
Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla
And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay
I looked at the place where my legs used to be
And thank Christ there was nobody waiting for me
To grieve and to mourn and to pity
And the band played Waltzing Matilda
As they carried us down the gangway
But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared
Then turned all their faces away

And now every April I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me
And I watch my old comrades, how proudly they march
Reliving old dreams of past glory
And the old men march slowly, all bent, stiff and sore
The forgotten heroes from a forgotten war
And the young people ask, "What are they marching for?"
And I ask myself the same question
And the band plays Waltzing Matilda
And the old men answer to the call
But year after year their numbers get fewer
Some day no one will march there at all

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
Who'll come a waltzing Matilda with me
And their ghosts may be heard as you pass the Billabong
Who'll come-a-waltzing Matilda with me?

I can't believe this was written by the same guy that penned "Nobody's Moggy". Cheers, mate, from a fellow recovering colonial.

[camaraderie]

TDW...Do we have to do this every year??
Good wishes to our friends, allies and marsupials on the other side of the world!

[SimonV]

Originally Posted by camaraderie

TDW...Do we have to do this every year??
Good wishes to our friends, allies and marsupials on the other side of the world!

Yes Cam. Reply "We shall remember them"

[camaraderie]

So noted ...We shall remember them.
(Provided we can forget Air Supply!)

[SimonV]

Sometimes I miss home; ANZAC day is one of those days when you do feel solemn and proud all at the same time.

[tdw]

May someone somewhere please forgive us for Air Supply but yes Cam we do need to do this every year and do it we will.

From a population of fewer than five million, 416,809 men enlisted, all volunteers, of which over 60,000 were killed and 156,000 wounded, gassed, or taken prisoner.

Mark, Thank You. That the same guy wrote both songs is, I think, indicative of what makes Australians Australians. Mad cu_ts we may be but we'll not let a fellow Aussie who died in the stinking mud of Gallipolli or Passchendaele, lie unforgotten. Two of them where my great uncles.

Simon, I'll down a Reschs for you mate.



ps - The ship in today's avatar HMAS Sydney was sunk in an engagement with a German ship during wwii probably due to her Captain's incompetence. My half brothers great uncle died in that engagement, to this day the single greatest loss of Australian lives in a single engagement.

[xort]

War is Hell.

[teshannon]

tdw,
Happy Anzac Day!!!

[Giulietta]

TD..I don't know what you say in a day like this..melhores saudacoes...

By the way...WW1 was also terrible for Portugal...thousands and thousands died as "meat for the canon" in places where the French retreated...so don't get me started...

The English didn't want us to go to War..but the french kept asking....it's a sad story..our country lost almost all men, because of the system the country had, all man were drafted, all of them...