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The Anzac Story

Memorial at Hamel

ANZAC Day - 25 April - is probably Australia’s most important national occasion. It marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War. ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.

The soldiers in those forces quickly became known as ANZACs, and the pride they soon took in that name endures to this day.

For more information on our Australian allies and their war experiences;

Gulf War 1990 - 1991

Vietnam War 1962 - 1972

Korean War 1950–53

Second World War 1939 - 1945

First World War 1914 – 1918

Thanks to FReeper Dundee for today's thread suggestion and links.

Veterans for Constitution Restoration is a non-profit, non-partisan educational and grassroots activist organization.

Tribute to a Generation - The memorial will be dedicated on Saturday, May 29, 2004.

Thanks to CholeraJoe for providing this link.

Actively seeking volunteers to provide this valuable service to Veterans and their families.

Thanks to quietolong for providing this link.

Iraq Homecoming Tips

~ Thanks to our Veterans still serving, at home and abroad. ~ Freepmail to Ragtime Cowgirl | 2/09/04 | FRiend in the USAF

The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul

Click on Hagar for
"The FReeper Foxhole Compiled List of Daily Threads"

This prayer was written by the late Petty Officer H B Shipstone of HMAS SYDNEY - 1941. It is read each year at the HMAS SYDNEY Memorial Service in Carnarvon at the Quobba Memorial, overlooking the ocean where it is believed SYDNEY went down.

Let me live, O Mighty Master,
Through this war. Yet if I'm slain
Tasting triumph and disaster
Joy, and not too much of pain
Let me roam the raging waters
For a while to love and laugh
And when I'm beneath the ocean,
Let this be my Epitaph -

"There sleeps one who took his chances
In that war-crazed tragic hell
Battled luck and circumstances,
Loved and laughed, but fought and fell
Victor, then he did no crowing
Wounded, then he did not wail;
Cursed and swore, but kept going,
Never let his courage fail.

He was fallible and human,
Therefore loved and understood
By his fellow men and women
Whether good, or not so good.
Kept his spirit undiminished
Had a laugh for every friend,
Fought for freedom till it finished,
Lived, loved, laughed, until the end

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

For all the fallen in defence of our freedoms.

Lest we forget.

Now when I was a young man I carried me pack
And I lived the free life of the rover.
From the Murray's green basin to the dusty outback,
Well, I waltzed my Matilda all over.
Then in 1915, my country said, "Son,
It's time you stop ramblin', there's work to be done."
So they gave me a tin hat, and they gave me a gun,
And they marched me away to the war.

And the band played "Waltzing Matilda,"
As the ship pulled away from the quay,
And amidst all the cheers, the flag waving, and tears,
We sailed off for Gallipoli.

And how well I remember that terrible day,
How our blood stained the sand and the water;
And of how in that hell that they call Suvla Bay
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter.
Johnny Turk, he was waitin', he primed himself well;
He showered us with bullets, and he rained us with shell --
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,"
When we stopped to bury our slain,
Well, we buried ours, and the Turks buried theirs,
Then we started all over again.

And those that were left, well, we tried to survive
In that mad world of blood, death and fire.
And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive
Though around me the corpses piled higher.
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head,
And when I woke up in me hospital bed
And saw what it had done, well, I wished I was dead --
Never knew there was worse things than dying.

For I'll go no more "Waltzing Matilda,"
All around the green bush far and free --
To hump tents and pegs, a man needs both legs,
No more "Waltzing Matilda" for me.

So they gathered the crippled, 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 sailed into Circular Quay,
I looked at the place where me legs used to be,
And thanked Christ there was nobody waiting for me,
To grieve, to mourn and to pity.

But the band played "Waltzing Matilda,"
As they carried us down the gangway,
But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared,
Then they turned all their faces away.

And so now every April, I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me.
And I see my old comrades, how proudly they march,
Reviving old dreams of past glory,
And the old men march slowly, all bones stiff and sore,
They're tired old heroes from a forgotten war
And the young people ask "What are they marching for?"
And I ask meself the same question.

But the band plays "Waltzing Matilda,"
And the old men still answer the call,
But as year follows year, more old men disappear
Someday, 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 they march by the billabong,
Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me?