# So, Tomorrow is Anzac Day **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 24, 2008, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tomorrow-is-anzac-day/446659 "2008-04-24T10:37:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tomorrow-is-anzac-day/446659/1 "2008-04-24T10:37:32Z")
[Link.](http://www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/anzac/anzac_tradition.htm) To my NZ and Australian friends I charge my glass. (Not forgetting the Turkish, French and UK soldiers who died there). To the grand uncles I never knew because of the war- such is life. ---
**Author:** ![garius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e19b73/32.png) [@garius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garius)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tomorrow-is-anzac-day/446659/2 "2008-04-24T10:45:58Z")
> [@](#): > > Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives… You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side now here in this country of ours… 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. Kemal Ataturk, 1934 ---
**Author:** ![Carson\_O\_Genic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cdc98d/32.png) [@Carson\_O\_Genic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carson_O_Genic)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tomorrow-is-anzac-day/446659/3 "2008-04-24T11:23:14Z")
This always prompts the memory of a picture, the beheading of a hands behind the back,on his knees blindfolded Anzac by sword wielding Japanese officer looming over him,weapon raised. (Stands.Salutes.) ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tomorrow-is-anzac-day/446659/4 "2008-04-24T11:37:19Z")
[QUOTE=Carson O’Genic] This always prompts the memory of a picture, the beheading of a hands behind the back,on his knees blindfolded Anzac by sword wielding Japanese officer looming over him,weapon raised. (Stands.Salutes.) [/QUOTE] [Link](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/columnists/columnists.html?in_page_id=1772&in_article_id=482589&in_author_id=464) ---
**Author:** ![Precambrianmollusc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/precambrianmollusc/32/63_2.png) [@Precambrianmollusc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Precambrianmollusc)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tomorrow-is-anzac-day/446659/5 "2008-04-24T11:49:28Z")
You tube version of the Pogues playing ´And the band played Waltzing Mathilda´ here Rather than a video of the band playimg, the visuals are all pictures from the time. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/GPFjToKuZQM/hqdefault.jpg "And the band played Waltzing Mathilda") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPFjToKuZQM) ---
**Author:** ![robinc308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@robinc308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robinc308)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tomorrow-is-anzac-day/446659/6 "2008-04-24T11:51:14Z")
[QUOTE=Cicero] [Link.](http://www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/anzac/anzac_tradition.htm) To my NZ and Australian friends I charge my glass. (Not forgetting the Turkish, French and UK soldiers who died there). To the grand uncles I never knew because of the war- such is life. [/QUOTE] My great-grandfather was an ANZAC. He landed at Gallipoli on the 25th April, 1915. I have a copy of his diary from the time, here are those 3 days worth of entries. From the diary of Sapper H. G. Watson, 2nd N.S.W. Signal Troop, 2nd Light horse Brigade. A.I.F.: > [@](#): > > **April 24.** > Leave Lemnos Isd for the Dardanelles. Expect to be in Constaninople in hrs/months: Arrived off mouth of Dardanelles at 4.30pm. Can hear heavy firing; haze of smoke all over hills. We are to land at 2AM tomorrow, our rifles are all charged; expect very heavy fighting to take place. I have made my will in Pay Books. All my bank OK in Bank of NSW Burwood to go to my mother. > > **8pm** > Submarine A15 ran ashore at Gallipoli. Turks tortured the sailors to death. One man was seen on the beach with his limbs broke, eyes gouged out. We have been told to fight to the last cartridge then if in fear of capture to put that into ourselves. We have one and all sworn to murder any Turk we get. > > **April 25.** > At 1am, officers have told us that any prisoners we take are to be fed out of our own rations!! This means “no live prisoners” > > **5am** > 3rd brigade of 5000 Austns are landed. Heavy rifle fire going on. 12 warships are bombarding the forts and batteries with good results, we are to land in half an hour. I feel shaky but OK and fit to do as my bit to revenge E15. > > Very heavy fighting Sunday (all things seem to happen on Sundays). > > **On land** > Warships bombarding and 7000 men are storming the coast of Turkey. Gillope or Gallipoli. A boat has just come along side us with 2 dead, 15 wounded Austns. Shells from the forts are falling all around us, but no hits. > > **9am** > We leave boat under heavy shrapnel fire & cruel elation. Dead men mounded all round us. Austn casualties 2000 for day. Turks 6000. The place is alive and one green hill full so like an ant heap with dead and dying soldiers. We are dug in under heavy fire. A shell missing our battalion by inches. > > **April 26.** > I am hardened now and quite used to seeing awful sights & they are awful. Men with heads and arms blown off and shrieking with pain. We sleep under the hill. To me, having read the diary from the optimistic young man at the start of the diary, it is the April 26 entry that breaks my heart. On ANZAC day ‘Gil’ Watson grew up faster than had ever imagined. He was eventually wounded and evacuated to England, where he volunteered again for France, where he was wounded again and evactuated, where he volunteered a third time, and joined the A.F.C. and became a top ace. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tomorrow-is-anzac-day/446659/7 "2008-04-24T12:01:33Z")
Robinc308- is your relatives diary available- or does it have a copyright on it? ---
**Author:** ![robinc308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@robinc308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robinc308)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tomorrow-is-anzac-day/446659/8 "2008-04-24T12:09:46Z")
[QUOTE=Cicero] Robinc308- is your relatives diary available- or does it have a copyright on it? [/QUOTE] The original is held by the Australian War Memorial in Canberra (along with his medals, and some other memorabilia). I have a photocopy of the original, which I have been working to transcribe (my great-grandfather had truly terrible handwriting: presumably being in the trenches and shells falling around him didn’t help). It has not been published or anything, just around the family. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tomorrow-is-anzac-day/446659/9 "2008-04-24T12:45:45Z")
[QUOTE=robinc308] The original is held by the Australian War Memorial in Canberra (along with his medals, and some other memorabilia). I have a photocopy of the original, which I have been working to transcribe (my great-grandfather had truly terrible handwriting: presumably being in the trenches and shells falling around him didn’t help). It has not been published or anything, just around the family. [/QUOTE] Any chance of a copy when you do transcribe it? ---
**Author:** ![robinc308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@robinc308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robinc308)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tomorrow-is-anzac-day/446659/10 "2008-04-24T12:59:06Z")
[QUOTE=Cicero] Any chance of a copy when you do transcribe it? [/QUOTE] I’ll check my grandma doesn’t have an issue (since it’s her father’s), but I don’t see why not. Just don’t hold your breath, I’ve been very slack about it, and have been working on it off and on (more off than on) for 2 years… (and a huge chunk is “removed by order of the censor”). It’s only his diary from the Gallipoli campaign: he ends by promising to start a new diary in France, but we don’t have that one. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_chao_goes_mu/32/3191_2.png) [@The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Chao_Goes_Mu)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tomorrow-is-anzac-day/446659/11 "2008-04-24T13:34:55Z")
To all you friends and strangers in Oz and NZ, I raise my glass. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tomorrow-is-anzac-day/446659/12 "2008-04-24T13:56:49Z")
A tip of the hat to the memory of all the ANZAC personnel, and here’s hoping those able to will enjoy a quite drink tomorrow. ---
**Author:** ![Gleena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@Gleena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gleena)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tomorrow-is-anzac-day/446659/13 "2008-04-24T14:04:54Z")
I’ve come to love my adopted, sunburnt country. Off to bed, dawn service tomorrow. Lest we forget, G ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tomorrow-is-anzac-day/446659/14 "2008-04-24T14:12:30Z")
Just gone midnight here in Sydney. For the Turkish, British, Australian, and New Zealand fallen… Lest We Forget. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tomorrow-is-anzac-day/446659/15 "2008-04-24T14:17:14Z")
And **Garius** , thank you for posting those words from Ataturk. It is probably the most beautiful of all pieces of writing of that type. It never fails to bring a lump to my throat. ---
**Author:** ![Mycroft\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/898d66/32.png) [@Mycroft\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mycroft_H)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tomorrow-is-anzac-day/446659/16 "2008-04-24T15:00:25Z")
Thank you so very much **robinc308** for sharing the excerpt from your great-grandfather’s diary. It was very moving and a wonderful reminder. My grandfather was in France at the tail end of WW I and kept a minimal diary while he was there. On November 11 I like to read the transcription I made a few decades ago, especially the very touching entry for 11/11/18. The attitude in the short diary also went quickly from cocky youth to solemn ponderings. In the US I find that WW I is pretty much ignored for the more recent conflicts. It is understandable, and I do not mean to downplay more recent sacrifices, but I don’t see the point of recognizing other service at the expense of World War I. In 1995 I was in Washington, D.C. on November 11. The Korean War memorial was 4 months old and there was a lot of activity as they set up chairs, speaker’s platform, etc. for a big remembrance event. There was activity at the nearby Vietnam Memorial as well. A short distance up the National Mall is the memorial for World War I. Nothing happening. Totally ignored except by me when I stopped there to say a remembrance prayer for my grandfather and other veterans. Like I say, I can understand how the older events fade away as the veterans die off, but that does not mean I have to like it. This is why Anzac Day is so wonderful. I’m sorry to confess that before this thread, Anzac Day was just a note on the calendar that I would see and think “OK, something about Australia and New Zealand. They’re cool.” I didn’t know the background. Thank you one and all for fighting my ignorance and thank you to those who made their varied sacrifices. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tomorrow-is-anzac-day/446659/17 "2008-04-25T01:11:40Z")
I have a copy of the diary my grand uncle (one of them) wrote at Gallopoli. It deals mainly with the food and the situation- nothing about the fighting. Sadly, after being wounded and invalided out, he rejoined after the losses of a916 and was killed in the last battle that his unit fought in WW1. In regards to Mycroft- it is sad that the history and scarifices pass. I still recall an Anzac Day Parade in Brisbane in the early 1980’s which was the first with no veteran of the Boer War present. The horse being led along with the light horsemans boots reversed will always stay with me. ---
**Author:** ![Gleena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@Gleena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gleena)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tomorrow-is-anzac-day/446659/18 "2008-04-25T04:23:42Z")
I always read the war memorials I find here in Australia. In small towns, I think - my God, my God…it must have been almost all of this town’s young men, and they never came home. What happened to their mothers and fathers, their daughters and sons, their wives and girlfriends? How did this small town ever recover, with no sons to start families and carry on? I’ve just been reading some broader Australian history having read most of the early days histories, and including some WWI things, and the total number of young men lost in such a sparsely populated young country, how ineffably, horribly, terribly sad. Again, lest we forget. Gleena ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tomorrow-is-anzac-day/446659/19 "2008-04-25T07:05:19Z")
I sang at our annual Anzac Day requiem mass this morning. It was very moving, as usual. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tomorrow-is-anzac-day/446659/20 "2008-04-25T07:12:58Z")
From the fighting on Pine Ridge: Four years later when the Australian Historical Mission visited Galliopli, skeletons of men in the rags of Australian uniform lay scattered in threes and fours down the length of Pine Ridge… Here where the tide of the advance ebbed and left them, they lay, until four years later, an Australian burial party interred them. They needed no epitaph. It was enough that they lay on Pine Ridge." [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-tomorrow-is-anzac-day/446659.md?page=2)