Lest we forget.

Hi, I just got back from the Greenbank RSL dawn service and was wondering...
Does anyone here have any Anzac tales they feel comforatble sharing? Perhaps you have a relative whom you are proud of?
-Staggers.

lets remember the anzacs past and present what they represent what they did layed down there lives to keep us free . its about mateship friendship and sacrafice its being proud to be aussie proud to be free.
thanks ANZACS
LETS NOT FORGET
bugbrained

Amen to that.
-Staggers.

from one serving member to all past, current and future serving members we will remember them for age shall not weary them as it does those of us left behind.

I haven't got any ANZAC stories, but earlier ones about my great grandfather in the boer war. He was one of the lucky survivors, he now has past on.

But during that war, he got drentched in mustard gas, yet survived and lived almost another 50 or 60 yrs. This is the only war story we have in our family, and the story isn't exactly in depth. After he came back from the war (what my parents tell me), he was never the same and it was hard to find out much details from him.

Lets we forget.
Hes in a better place now.

[ Edited on 25/4/2006 by bajachris88 ]

After serving in the army and raaf i discharged in 1996 and after spending nearly 9 years in the military I couldnt wait to do what ever I wanted without answering to anyone . The plan was to go backpacking through europe until all my money ran out, to cut a long story short I ended up being in Tukey in 1997 and made it to galipoli for anzac day. That dawn service I will never forget and it really hit home that day as we were wondering around the site picking up bits of shrapnel etc and came across a white object that turned out to be a finger bone!could have been Turkish or Australian but it didnt really matter, we put it inthe ocean and said a prayer. The mind boggles at the conditions people will live and die under for their convictions. lest we forget.

[ Edited on 24-4-2006 by pangalactic ]

my uncle passed away a short time ago he had served in the desert campaign and new guinea
lest we forget

We should not forget them as we should not for the consequences of war.





Rank Death Toll Event Dates
1 55,000,000 Second World War (Some overlap w/Stalin. Includes Sino-Japanese War and Holocaust. Doesn't incl. post-war German expulsions) 1937/39-1945
2 40,000,000 China: Mao Zedong's regime. (incl. famine) 1949-76
3 20,000,000 USSR: Stalin's regime (incl. WW2-era atrocities) 1924-53
4 15,000,000 First World War (incl. Armenian massacres) 1914-18
5 8,800,000 Russian Civil War 1918-21
6 4,000,000 China: Warlord & Nationalist Era 1917-37
7 3,000,000 Congo Free State [n.1] (1900)-08
8 2,800,000 Korean War 1950-53
8 2,800,000 2nd Indochina War (incl. Laos & Cambodia) 1960-75
10 2,500,000 Chinese Civil War 1945-49
11 2,100,000 German Expulsions after WW2 1945-47
12 1,900,000 Second Sudanese Civil War 1983-(99)
13 1,700,000 Congolese Civil War [n.1] 1998-(99)
14 1,650,000 Cambodia: Khmer Rouge Regime 1975-79
15 1,500,000 Afghanistan: Soviet War 1980-89
16 1,400,000 Ethiopian Civil Wars 1962-92
17 1,250,000 East Pakistan: Massacres 1971
18 1,000,000 Mexican Revolution 1910-20
18 1,000,000 Iran-Iraq War 1980-88
18 1,000,000 Nigeria: Biafran revolt 1967-70
21 917,000 Rwandan Massacres 1994
21 800,000 Mozambique: Civil War 1976-92
23 675,000 French-Algerian War 1954-62
24 600,000 First Indochina War 1945-54
24 600,000 Angolan Civil War 1975-94
26 500,000 Decline of the Amazonian Indians (1900-99)
26 500,000 India-Pakistan Partition 1947
26 500,000 First Sudanese Civil War 1955-72
29 450,000 Indonesia: Massacre of Communists 1965-66
30 365,000 Spanish Civil War 1936-39
? >350,000 Somalia: Chaos 1991-(99)
? >400,000 North Korea: Communist Regime 1948-(99)

"I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it." -- Jack Handy

Source - Haemoclysm (Blood Flood)


Sad but is it true? Lets hope not.

This morning I spoke with my mum who is in Queensland and attended the dawn service. She rang me soon after and we discussed my home town of Emerald and the difference between each place and town individually remember those who fell for us today.

Later I was watching on the History channel how it was common in the trenches between the French and the Germans to share the motto "Live and Let Live" between the soldiers in each trench much to the disgust of the officers trying to conduct a war. It was not uncommon for either side to not fight during meal times, mail call and social occasions. In fact at time some french soldiers would smell the cooking of the Germans and ask if they could share the meal from which they would cross and do so.

They cited letters in which a sergant exclaimed how his commanders were to push forward to which he replied that he directly wrote a note that said, and I will have to paraphrase: It is not out wish but we have been commanded to push forward. We will sound a whistle for you to ready yourselves before we advance." The sergent did just this which to me showed a kind of sportsmanship between the two sides.

The truth is that no longer will wars be soldiers and guns but contractors, missles, chemicals and germs. It's not for land but energy and resources. The next wars will use the innocent as pawns, bullies as allies and the weak to stack votes. Challenge me in my thinking because I'd love to be wrong.

The Bronze.

Chris it's 'Boer' not Boar.

Owen Prior, Tobruk 18th April 1941

Give my love to all. Tell 'em I'll be see'n 'em again. Isn't this damn business rotten. Why should I, by virtue of my present occupation, be given license to break a Commandment?
And the funny part is, I've done it without compunction.Will again. And as often as necessary.Why? It isn't the real me. But to help keep you safe, I'd do ANYTHING.
God bless you & keep you safe.
Love & best wishes
Owen

[ Edited on 25-4-2006 by kombikim ]

cheers ruckus.

I remember what you all did and layed down for me to walk free this day... and I thank you...

Had a great day today.
Did the dawn service at Greenwell point and then the service in Nowra.
This is the one day that we in the defence force take to heart.
I got rather upset when a saw a fat S.O.B. and his look a like son not stand for the national anthem.
Unfortunatly i was in the Guard of Honour and not able to do anything.

Lee.

yeah we had a quiet day at work today but will have to catch up with you and penguin for a beer next year

sounds like a plan mate.

Lee.

Had to miss the dawn service this year because I didn't finish work until 6.30am. Thought it would be nice to go to my local RSL for dinner with the diggers, only to have that ruined by some drunken morons who wanted to start trouble. How about some respect you dumbf**ks. Anzac day is not an excuse for you to get pissed and start fights, if you want to fight, get some balls and serve your country. Best thing I ever did and it teaches respect, obviously something lost on some these days.

Sorry about the rant folks, I'll climb down off my soapbox now.:cussing😬

77bay wrote:.....Thought it would be nice to go to my local RSL for dinner with the diggers, only to have that ruined by some drunken morons who wanted to start trouble. How about some respect you dumbf**ks. Anzac day is not an excuse for you to get pissed and start fights, if you want to fight, get some balls and serve your country. Best thing I ever did and it teaches respect, obviously something lost on some these days.

.:cussing😬

AMEN brother.

People think that today is a national day of piss drinking.
That is a part of it, but there is a lot of respect to be paid today.
I know that from going to the RSL in uniform, you cop a hell of a lot of flack from the pissed locals.
It is the only part of the day that i don't like, Everyone wants to fight you but never want to take the step to join up and fight along side you.

Today was a sad day for a lot of the guys that i work with as they were very close friends with Jacob Kovco, the young guy that lost his life in Afghanstan this past week.

Lee.

Courage, Sacrifice, Mateship, Endurance.

Lest We Forget...

[ Edited on 25-4-06 by zac_smits ]

Being a pom, I'm always impressed by the way old soldiers are treated in Oz. In the UK I can still remember when a minute silence was discontinued in our school back in the sixties! I think over there it's always been a class (system) thing. The working class were only used to benefit the upper class and that meant they were sent off to war to fight and when they returned they were no better off. Even in recent times such as the Falklands, soldiers who returned crippled were left out in the cold by the defence forces and had to rely on social welfare. During the First World War the British troops who were called up were the most uneducated and undernourished of all the major combatants so much so that on a few occasions when poms saw Australian troops they saluted thinking that to be so well fed they (the Ozzies) they must be officers! Also I know it's ANZAC day but did you know that 7 out of 10 soldiers that died at Gallipoli were British.

Had a great day down here in Syd-knee. Met up with the old ACS (Airfield Contruction Squadron) guys and marched with them and my old troops (their officer went home after the dawn service to win some brownie points before the deploys to the mid east later this year.
Had a great march, lunch at the Tatts club, then drinks there, three monkeys and the City RSL.
Cheers all and remember that its not just a day for uniforms, but all the community who suffered as well. Just think of the families who never had their loved ones come back (thast the same for Jacob's family)

Yep
I watched a doco on the ABC about a couple. The fella went off to Tobruk and was shot. His wife and 8 kids, were waiting for him to come home, but she got the letter every wife dreaded. Im not ashamed to say I got quite teary and choked up watching it. I hope it never happens again. But for those that have suffered and had to live through it I have the greatest respect.
Rob...

I did an ANZAC day in Thailand on deployment on year. Just seeing all those graves at Kanchinburi and the Burma railway was enough to move me to tears. What they must have gone through, sheer hell. Alot of young people these days could learn alot if they just listened once in a while and showed some respect.

I may be a joker sometimes, but the whole idea of war is so not a joke. Even my dad grew up in WWII in Holland and the whole thing is just so many levels above what so many people whinge about today. I can only say that there is a lot of respect from me for anyone who had to live or die in a war area.

Peace dudes!