ANZAC Day 2013

 

With their hair a little whiter, their step not quite so sure
Still they march on proudly as they did the year before.
Theirs were the hands that saved us, their courage showed the way
Their lives they laid down for us, that we may live today.

From Gallipoli's rugged hillsides, to the sands of Alamein
On rolling seas and in the skies, those memories will remain.
Of airmen and the sailors, of Lone Pine and Suvla Bay
The boys of the Dardenelles are remembered on this day.

They fought their way through jungles, their blood soaked desert sands
They still remember comrades who rest in foreign lands.
They remember the siege of old Tobruk, the mud of the Kokoda Trail
Some paying the supreme sacrifice with courage that did not fail.
To the icy land of Korea, the steamy jungles of Vietnam
And the heroic battle of Kapyong and that epic victory at Long Tan.

Fathers, sons and brothers, together they fought and died
That we may live in peace together, while at home their mothers cried.
When that final bugle calls them to cross that great divide
Those comrades will be waiting when they reach the other side.

 

Ken Bunker

 



Today is the 98th anniversary of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) landing at Gallipoli, Turkey.

 

It is commemorated throughout Australia with dawn services of remembrance, and parades in many towns and cities.

 

I went to the parade through Adelaide.  It was a very moving experience,  with spectators young and old, applauding veterans of many conflicts, serving officers and men, and next of kin marching through the city.

 The parade was headed by four horses from the SA Mounted Police leading the dignitaries and the main parade.

 

There were many marching bands mingled in the parade. There were military bands, town bands and society bands, pipe bands and brass bands, and the SA Police band was there in two guises.

Also interspersed amongst the groups of marchers were some military vehicles, which carried some of the less mobile veterans.

 

Throughout the parade, His Excellency Rear Admiral Kevin Scarce AC CSC RANR, Governor of South Australia, took the salute from the dais on King William Road.

 

But, of course, the stars of the parade were the groups of veterans. Some groups had many marchers, some only few, and many had no marchers at all.

Most managed under their own steam, but some needed a little help. 

Others met with mates they may have not seen for many years.  Most were decorated with medals from many campaigns.

Some marched under the banner of their unit, others wore the blue beret of the United Nations, and yet more marched proudly under the sovereign flag of their forefathers.

Bringing up the rear were our serving soldiers, sailors and airmen, and a small group from the Barossa Light Horse Historical Association, depicting soldiers of the Australian 1st Light Horse Brigade, that took part in that ill-fated landing at Gallipoli 98 years ago today. 
 

 

 

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.