As the 25th April approaches I remember our last ANZAC Day IN SPAIN.
ANZAC = Australian and New Zealand Army Corp.
Brilliant red flower heads, sparkling in the Spanish sunshine.
A recently found Poppy tucked into a memorial plate at the N.Q. Garden of Remembrance at ANZAC Park, Townsville, Australia.
At Dawn on the 25th of April, ANZAC Services around Australia will commence.
Why That Time and That Day?
At 4.28 a.m. on 25th April, 1915, Australian and New Zealand advance forces, landed at Gallipoli as part of the Allied Forces Gallipoli campaign in WWI. The battle result was an outstanding victory for the Ottoman Army led by Mustafa Ataturk, the father of modern Turkey. He graciously wrote this tribute to the Allied Soldiers buried at Gallipoli (in part):
… you, the mothers, who sent their sons from faraway countries wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land. They have become our sons as well.
By the completion of the campaign, more than 120,000 men from both the Ottoman and Allied Forces were dead.
I am not a particularly sentimental person, but I do get goosebumps when I hear
the Ode of Remembrance, (a poem by Laurence Binyon):
- 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.
and the hauntingly beautiful LAST POST.
Lest We Forget.
Blogging shrinks the world, providing a link with other bloggers and their followers in the furthest corners of the world. COMMUNAL GLOBAL provides a link that can only help create global friendships, which might in turn reduce further conflicts in our world. Click on the link to see what people around the world are thinking and doing.
Fantastic Friday – Dry Gulch Provincial Park Campfire Heaven
The blast of red is just stunning!
I just loved these happy flowers in Spain and could not stop photographing them – we don’t have them in North Queensland:)
Lovely tribute! I get goosebumps thinking about these historic wars, too.
Thanks Kim, I am wondering if I will get up in time for the dawn service at the strand. The Anzac Park borders on the Strand Marina and it would be lovely at Dawn. But I am not a morning person 🙁
Hi Jan,
Soon we will be having wild poppied flowering in the meadows. They do make for a pretty sight!!
Hello May, I found communal global when I was pottering around your site the other day! How lucky you are to have poppies in the meadows:)
Anzac Day is so important – so that we can remember and never forget what our men did for Australia. This year we didn’t go to an Anzac Service and I felt so guilty for not attending….yet I have been to many services over the years.
Now that we have one son in the forces and another one joining soon – Anzac Day has a different meaning for our family.
Great photos – and great post about Lest We Forget.
Anzac Day and the poem and bugle always make me teary. I think it is great that Australia has not forgotten their sacrifice.