songs

songs

fun

fun

news

news

friend fun

friend fun

Fallen honoured at Anzac Cove, Western Front

Monday, April 25, 2011

Thousands of people have gathered at Anzac Cove and Western Front memorials to mark the 96th anniversary of Australian and New Zealand troops landing at Gallipoli.
Wreaths have been laid at a dawn service in Turkey to remember the 11,400 Anzacs who died during the World War I battle at Gallipoli.
The Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Warren Snowdon, saluted those who fought and are still fighting, telling those gathered it was up to them to make sure history was not repeated.
He says the Lone Pine memorial at Gallipoli is Australia's memorial to the missing.
More than 4,000 soldiers killed at Gallipoli have no known graves and their names are instead engraved on the memorial.
"While so many who came here remain lost in graves unknown, their spirit drives us to this day and behoves us to accept the responsibility to do whatever we can to avoid war and find peaceful resolution to our differences," he said.
"This is how we can honour them."
Mr Snowdon has also praised the original Anzacs and the sacrifices they made.
"The fact that we are all here, at this place and at this time, is testimony to the mutual respect and friendship that has grown since those terrible days now almost a century ago."
He said the spirit of Anzac lives on.
"The Anzacs could never have known the enduring legacy of their courage, of their service and sacrifice," he said.
New Zealand's foreign minister, Murray McCully, also paid tribute to the Anzac spirit, telling those gathered the past has taught us how to move on and forgive.
"It is possible, by remembering this important lesson of history," he said.
The battle of Lone Pine in 1915 was one of the fiercest fights of World War I.
Seven Victoria Crosses were awarded as a result of the four-day battle.
A relative of Albert Jacka - the first Australian to be awarded a VC during World War I - spoke of his courage.
"I know that on May 19 he jumped into a trench that had some Turkish soldiers that had just previously taken it over from some Australians and killed and wounded the soldiers in the trench," his great-great niece, Brooke Streatfeild, said.
"He took them on single-handedly - he shot five, he bayoneted two and he took three hostages, and then he held the trench for 15 minutes until reinforcements arrived."
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd has told an Anzac Day service in France that Australian troops played a critical role on the Western Front during World War I.
Thousands of Australians died while helping to drive the Germans from Villers-Bretonneux and break the Hindenberg line in 1918.
Mr Rudd has given a commemorative address during a dawn service at Villers-Bretonneux remembering the price they paid.
"We come to honour the values for which they fought. For freedom, for a fair go for all - values which we hold to be true for all humankind, not just for some," he said.
"We come too to honour their feats of arms because their courage and skill helped change the course of the war, helped bring that war to an end."
Speaking in French and English, Mr Rudd told those gathered Australia would never forget their ally.
"And to the people of France who are with us today... We say thank you for looking after our fallen sons," he said.

"We know our sacrifice was small compared to the loss of 1.3 million sons of France."

0 comments:

Post a Comment