The Official KT Tunstall Board

My thoughts and prayers go out to all past and present members of the Australian and New Zealand armed forces, and their families.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANZAC_Day

Seconded.

I didn't know about this. Very sad, my thoughts with familiesx

thanks for the history James ... what a sacrifice!

I'd like to say thanx very much to James for recognising a significant day in not only my country's history, but that of my Tasman neighbours.

For some of us, we see the battles at Gallipoli as our coming of age, a time where we were properly recognised as a fighting and strong nation, despite all the casualties. Others of course see it as an event they wish to never see repeated again in their lifetimes - however, we did participate in WW2 (where our ties with the US began and were strengthened only cos the British wouldn't help us out when wer e concerned about our own border security), Korea (my grandfather was part of the Australian Navy then, he went to Korea), Vietnam and so on....of course, we're still participating in wars today.

Through such a catastrophic event where thousands died within minutes (there's been stories of boys as young as 14 going off to WW1 and lying to their mothers and lying to everybody else about their ages - I remember from being taught about this in school that many people saw this as a "grand adventure" since that was kind of how it was advertised - little did they realise the horror that awaited them), we've come to see the 25th of April as a day for celebration for all that our "Diggers" (as we call our war veterans) did to defend our country and to serve as a reminder to people of why they hold such an important place in our history. Mind you, ANZAC Day wasn't celebrated as much as it is today up until about the mid-late 90's methinx...

Just as an aside note - I had 2 great-great uncles die building the Thai-Burma railway for the Japanese. Both my grandfathers have served in wars (my dad's dad was part of the British Navy during WW2, then he jumped ship at Singapore and came out here to escape his troubled family at home and the other one I mentioned above), both my mum's mum and her aunty were in the women's services during WW2 (the WANS apparently, which stands [supposedly] for Women's Australian National Service methinx) and my great uncle (mum's uncle) served during WW2, but soon after the war he estranged himself from the family and we've never heard from him again.

^couldn't have it better myself.


Lest we forget.

*bump*

A significant day in my own country and across the Tasman in New Zealand rolled around once again today...

I went to a local-ish dawn service this morning, which would've been more moving for numerous reasons which I'll go into in the "irritating" thread....one year I hope to go to Gallipoli and be there for the true Anzac experience. Or Villers-Brettoneux (not sure if I spelt that correctly - OhRay!), where they held their first memorial service on Anzac Day in the 90 years since we fought on the Western Front (something I learnt about in high school during history class)...hopefully there will be many more services like that there for the years to come.

Speaking of my great-grandfather and at least 1 of my great-great-uncles (they had something on another news channel about a service held in Thailand and they spoke a tiny bit about the story of the Thai-Burma railway - immediately I thought I'll have to get there too, since 2 of my great-great-uncles died as a POW building it as mentioned in last year's post above), I recently received their medals off my grandfather and hopefully once I get them fixed up a little bit and give them a polish, next year I'll wear them proudly.

And thanx once again to James and Megs for decorating the forum appropriately.

My thoughtsxx

Lest we forget xxx

We will remember them

Never Forgotten

Thoughts to all the sacrified souls who fought and died for their country x

My thoughts