WHEN on April 25th, 1915, Australian and New Zealand soldiers, soon to bear the imperishable name of Anzacs, sprang from their boats on to the beaches of Gallipoli, their qualities as fighting soldiers were unknown and untried.
In the first rush up the cliffs in the dark, in the easy figures first seen on the ridges against the dawn sky, in the working parties stacking stores on the shelled beaches, without the turning of a head, in the stretcher bearers walking down a bullet-swept slope to a comrade's call, they were unconsciously setting a lasting tradition. In things seen daily, from the first morning until the end of the campaign, onlookers recognized in these men outstanding qualities of valour, determination, and endurance.
These Anzac soldiers were not supermen, they were much the same type of man as the average Australian and New Zealander is today. They were the grandfathers of many of the children who will perhaps read this story. For a few more years some of these men of Anzac will be amongst us.
You will see them in Anzac Day marches, proudly wearing their medals. Many of these old Anzacs carry the scars of the wounds they received at Gallipoli, or on the battlefields of France and Palestine. Often they stand in crowded trains and trams while young men and women, and boys
and girls, sit.
These men were young and strong when they leapt from their boats and climbed the
hills of Gallipoli on that first Anzac Day, April 25tb, 1915. What they, and the other soldiers who followed them, did has given to Australia and New Zealand the priceless heritage of Anzac.
In a few short years there will be no soldiers of the Great War of 1914-1918 amongst you.
They will have gone to join their comrades who fell on the battlefields of Gallipoli, Palestine, and France.
- The Anzacs fought to retain our basic freedoms. Let us ensure that they did not die in vain and that the
Spirit of Anzac remains with
us....always.
|
