ANZAC Day

[PinHead]

Once again it is upon us...I don't think there are any WWI verterans left and the WWII numbers are diminishing rapidly.

As one ofthe few Nations on the planet that has never been under direct threat of invasion, we have entered most of the major conflicts to assist others.

To try and give others a fair go..we have paid dearly at times for this but never, as a Nation, have we regretted it. We believe in the basic principles of freedom for all and endeavour to do our part when required.

On this day, we commemorate our fallen, thank our past serviing members and also thank the current members of the ADF, especially those in some of those places no one would ever really want to visit.

LEST WE FORGET.

[theoldlegend]

Perfectly put Pinhead.

LEST WE FORGET.


TOL

[Lucky_Phill]

War is something that can never be glorified.

We commemorate the actions of our forefathers and celebrate their lives.




"The Price of Liberty is Eternal Vigilance"



Lest we forget.





LP.
.
.
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[dnej]

I have been doing a lot of research recently on Milne bay, in New Guinea.What an absolute hell hole. My dad in law was in the thick of it.We are very lucky people, to say the least.
Aspecial day is now observed for them.
David
"Battle for Australia Day will commemorate the service and sacrifice of all those who served in defence of Australia in 1942 and 1943 when we faced the gravest threats to our nation," Mr Griffin said.
"This national day of observance will provide tangible recognition and greater community awareness of the contribution to Australia’s freedom and democracy of those who fought in the Battle for Australia.
"There were direct attacks on the Australian mainland, particularly in Darwin, and battles in the Coral Sea and Papua and New Guinea, including Milne Bay and the Kokoda Track."
Prime Minister John Curtin announced the Battle for Australia when Singapore fell on 15 February 1942. However, the first Wednesday in September has been chosen by the veteran community as it represents the first defeat of Japanese forces on land in the Battle of Milne Bay.
"The Day will also be an opportunity to remember the sacrifices of those on the home front, who lived in a time when the entire Australian economy was directed towards the war effort," Mr Griffin said.
Mr Griffin said Battle for Australia Day would not be a public holiday.
"This proclamation will not detract from the importance of Australia's two most significant days of commemoration, Anzac Day and Remembrance Day, on which we remember all Australians who served and died in wars, conflicts and peace operations," Mr Griffin said.
Details of commemorative ceremonies to be held to mark Battle for Australia Day will be published on the Department of Veterans’ Affairs website www.dva.gov.au when events are confirmed.

[PinHead]

Not taking anything away form those who served, David, but in 1942 the Japs decided they were not going to try and invade Australia but at the time it must have seemed like it...the buggers still bombed us.

Mum went to school in Townsville at the time..had to take her sandwiches, water and a wooden peg..I asked her what the peg was for..to bite on in case of air raid...if they did not turn up at school with these items they had to immediately go home and get them.

My grandfather was there also..a Sergeant in the Medical Corps..got his medals and discharge papers etc. Wife has suggested at times that I should wear them in an ANZAQC Day march. I refuse to..I keep them in memory of him but they are not mine to wear...I did not earn them.

[gr hilly]

we all owe so much to so many we have never known, the bravest of the brave to push forward against all odds AUSTRALIANS you make us all proud.

LEST WE FORGET

[Lovey80]

This will be my 2nd ANZAC day in Baghdad in the past 3 years. Gladly next year I plan to spend it at Gallipoli. If the last post being played at dawn on April 25 with the beugal doesn't make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end your not an Aussie.

Pin head, the japs would have had no option but to invade Australia. With the whole US effort being staged from Aus it would have happened if it were not for Milne Bay, Kokoda and Guadal canal it would have happened. New Ginea was only of strategic importance for an invasion of Australia. I don't believe for one second they were going to stop once PNG fell.

I like it when decendants wear the medals it shows pride in what thier families have achieved. Just get down the back in a group of your own and leave the remaining diggers a chance to get it over with without any hassles.

[charleville]

War is something that can never be glorified.

We commemorate the actions of our forefathers and celebrate their lives.



Absolutely agreed. Lest we forget.



Something that might be of great interest to many people is the knowledge that you can view, online, service records of WW1 Aussie soldiers and some (but not all) WW2 Aussie soldiers by searching at this website....

http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/scripts/ResearcherScreen.asp


It was by doing such a search on my dad's WW1 service records that I cleared up a few misunderstandings with my siblings about Dad's war history and family history, addresses etc in general. (My elder sister did not even know that Dad had enlisted in WW1 as Dad had destroyed all of his records and never spoke of the era when were were growing up in the 50's and 60's. He died in the early 1970's. I only knew of his enlistment because Mum had told me.)


Those scanned service records hold absolutely everything, including the original enlistment papers, parential approvals where needed, medical records, pay records, disciplinary records, etc etc etc. It is quite a stunning experience to look at them really.

Some WW2 records are digitised but not all. I think that you can pay to get the ones that are not yet digitised, though.

I found the WW2 service records of an old mate and ex-boss of mine and at the next time that I saw him, I was delighted to exclaim, "You bastard! You were disciplined twice in your term as a soldier for going AWOL." :grin: He explained that that sort of a charge happened a lot as it often applied to blokes who were late coming home from leave etc.

It was a bit of a chuckle really as this poor bloke, who is now 89, lied about his age by two years to enlist without his Dad's permission, joined the artillery because the artillery blokes got to travel in trucks rather than marching everywhere but then he was captured in Singapore in 1941 and spent the rest of the war in Changi prison, the Burma railway and finally working in a coal mine 40 km across a bay from Nagasaki and actually saw the second atomic bomb explode. He said that he and his mates thought that a bomb had hit an ammo dump.

Whilst he has a few injuries from being a POW, (leg injuries mainly due to a cave-in when he was working as slave labour in Japan) and some interesting views on the Japanese, he is in remarkably good health and tells some extremely interesting stories when he visits me every month or so.


Some of those stories had to do with adjusting to life after the war - eg seeing women who smoke, having to wear jungle greens on release from POW camps (the Aussie POWs hated to wear jungle greens as they had been used to Khaki and they did not want to be associated with the Dutch who wore jungle greens), and gorging themselves on food immediately after release from the Japs.

He was delighted when I gave him a hard copy of all of his records which, of course, he had never seen as they were the army's personnel file on him.


If you do a search as I have described, you might need to be a bit creative with your searching as sometimes there may be spelling errors ( as there was with my Dad's surname) and often the place of enlistment may not be one that is obvious to you at first glance.

When you do a search, if the search results have the annotation shown below, then you can see the service records online. (I have randomly selected a VC winner's name from Gallipoli for this example.)

http://img.skitch.com/20100424-bc6us3g48us2x1m62xhsr3n93d.preview.jpg (http://skitch.com/charleville2/dym5r/national-archives-of-australia-display-item-search-results)
Click for full size (http://skitch.com/charleville2/dym5r/national-archives-of-australia-display-item-search-results) - Uploaded with plasq (http://plasq.com)'s Skitch (http://skitch.com)






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[finga]

And to think some misguided people believe that the Anzac tradition has out lived it's usefulness.
I nearly choked on my wheatbix when I heard that on the television the other morning.
They are indeed every wrong as I think the Anzac spirit has grown over the years...and as a nation we need to remember.

A heart felt thank you to all the service men and women who have served this great country so well in the past and also to those who are serving today.

[dnej]

The nominal roll, is a great place to start, then you can do a search on the person, and order the digitised copy on line, as mentioned above. Costs $ 16.50.

The Japs really wanted New Guinea, as a stepping stone to Austarlia. After Milne Bay was chosen for its deep harbour, and flat ground, for airstrips, next stop was to be Port Moresby, then Australia.
I had no idea, of the struggle in Milne Bay, and what happened, until this year.
Australians were the first airforce, to fly low level bombing runs on the Japanese fleet, due to the inaccuracy of high level runs. The history of this effort is astonishing. Many tons of shipping was sunk, due to these efforts.

Pinhead, I would get out there and wear them with pride. If you dont carry on the tradition,the medals will remain hidden for ever. You wear them on the opposite side to the Vets.
My dad in law, and his daughter will be in Jeep number six, I think. Both will wear Air Force caps. He is 89 now.
Lest we forget.
David

[Apollo]

Thanks for the post Pinhead. This one means a fair bit to me as it marks the first one without my grandfather who fought over PNG in WWII. Unfortunately he has now gone at 95, the last survivor of 5 brothers who fought in WWII and of only 2 who made it home. - LEST WE FORGET.

Steve

[dnej]

Apollo, are you going to march and wear his medals.
Have you done any research on your grandad? Go to the nominal roll on the web site.
Regards David

[dnej]

This is what you will find when you do a google on Nominal roll

Home
Welcome to the World War Two Nominal Roll website.
The World War Two Nominal Roll was created to honour and commemorate the men and women who served in Australia's defence forces and the Merchant Navy during this conflict.
This site contains information from the service records of some one million individuals who served during World War Two.
You may search for service record details by specifying name (http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/../script/name.asp#searchtabs), service number (http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/../script/service_number.asp#searchtabs), honours (http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/../script/honour.asp#searchtabs), place (http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/../script/place.asp#searchtabs) (of birth, of enlistment, or residential locality at enlistment). Once you find an individual service record you can print a certificate, if you wish.
Individuals were given an opportunity to have their service details excluded from the website prior to it being published. More detailed information about this, and the roll, is available at About this Nominal Roll (http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/../doc/about.asp).
If you would like to contact us about this website, please refer to our contact details (http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/../doc/contacts.asp#ww2nr).
This site was last updated on 6 April 2010.

[lippa]

Not taking anything away form those who served, David, but in 1942 the Japs decided they were not going to try and invade Australia but at the time it must have seemed like it...the buggers still bombed us.

Mum went to school in Townsville at the time..had to take her sandwiches, water and a wooden peg..I asked her what the peg was for..to bite on in case of air raid...if they did not turn up at school with these items they had to immediately go home and get them.

My grandfather was there also..a Sergeant in the Medical Corps..got his medals and discharge papers etc. Wife has suggested at times that I should wear them in an ANZAC Day march. I refuse to..I keep them in memory of him but they are not mine to wear...I did not earn them.


To wear your grandfathers medals, on your right breast, is an honour and a tribute to he and every other service person who have fought for our freedom. i am a second second son of a second son, therefore will never get the opportunity to wear there medals with pride. but i will be there, every dawn service, to remember them.

lest we forget

[Apollo]

Apollo, are you going to march and wear his medals.
Have you done any research on your grandad? Go to the nominal roll on the web site.
Regards David

My uncle got his medals and will march. I have not done any research on his history as he was always very reluctant to speak of what he went through and saw. I will respect that.

Steve

[trymyluck]

Pinhead, well put. And while you have every right to wear your grandfathers medals in honor of him I feel much the same as you. I could never wear my grandfathers for the same reasons. Just wouldn't feel right.

A very close family friend who lived across the road from me when I was growing up was in the thick of it in PNG, Milne Bay. As far as I know the Australian War museum has 2 Japanese tanks captured at Milne bay, 1 of which has his name scratched in it along with his mates after they captured it. The little that he told me of what he endured more then convinced me that war was something not to be celebrated or glorified.

Steve my thoughts will be with you mate. And mate if you march with your grandfathers medals then do so with pride, you have every right.

Mark

[PinHead]

Chris..have a read of this:
http://www.anzacday.org.au/history/ww2/bfa/overview.html

[PinHead]

very true Mark...ANZAC Day is not a celebration but a commeroration.

[gr hilly]

one of my daughters was in iraq a few years ago and she made me and her family proud but scared, it was good for her to come home the ADF is still doing us proud boys just like in years past they are the best in the world in what they do.


a proud father

[Axl]

I attended the dawn service this morning I am at the Moomba gas plant top end of South Aus.

There would be around 400 people onsite at the moment and I recon most of them would have been there.

It was great to see that although we are in the middle of no where we still remembered.

LEST WE FORGET.

[HeadBanger]

My school held an ANZAC Day ceremony, like we do every year. This year was a bit different though.

We had a few Vietnam Veterans come to our school and talk about their experiences in the war, and a few family members of those who fought in the two World Wars. These guys had the whole hall (1300 students) listening to their every word, which isn't an easy thing to do on a hot day with 1300 teenagers.

Listening to their stories; it really makes you patriotic to be able to live in The Lucky Country (very true to its name.) It gives you a true sense of pride to be Australian.

Lest we forget,
Kaidon

[levinge]

I unfortunately couldn't make the march this year as work had me on a 12 hour shift last night and bruning the candle at both ends is not good for the health...

I would say this

Pour 2 Beers, Raise your Glass and take a moment to think of a Servicemen who has given the ultimate sacrifice.

1 life a debt paid in full to his Country...

May we Never Forget.....

[TimiBoy]

I have a few Cousins who get to march with their Father's and Grandfather's medals, including an MC and a DFC. My Dad is the Second Son, so none of us get to march, although Dad was actually lined up ready to go to Korea when they called it off.

I was rapt to stand at Cleveland this morning with two of my adult Sons, I'm stoked that they want to be there. The third Son would have been, but he's too far away.

I also always think on this day of my Father in Law, who fought in the German Army against the Russians. He never had an ANZAC Day...

Cheers,

Tim

[SUPERDAFF]

How heartening to so many personal comments contributed on this very important day.
Lest We Forget.
SUPERDAFF

[mylestom]

Always proud to march with my Service medals, my wife always joins me and wears her Dads. We will never forget. Family members buried in France in the First and Second World Wars. Also many others fought in the First and Second and returned safe (Thank God).

Dawn service in Coffs Harbour this year was larger than normal. Its great to see some of the newer generation with the medals from very recent conflicts.

Just going over research on a Great Uncle who join in 1916 (age 16) died in France and buried in Villers 1918. Put his age up. Just finished reading his service record (all 49 pages) brings a tear to the eye.

Regards
Trev

[TheRealAndy]

I attended the service at sandgate, along with my neighbour, another guy in the street and my VMR skipper. All are veterans. My neighbour (who just moved into a retirement home) is 92 and he still marches. I have nothing but the utmost respect for this guy, who was very highly regarded in the service. I dont march, nor do I wear my grandfathers medals, but I do go along and pay my respects each year.

Finga,

I dont know who suggested that people believe that the Anzac tradition has out lived it's usefulness, but if today was anything to go by I have never seen a crowd so big at the Sandgate service. It must have been nearly double that of last years, and if it gets any bigger they simply wont be able to accommodate all the people.

[finga]

Andy it was on Sunrise either Thursday or Friday.
Here is the troddle.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/sticking-up-for-anzac-day/story-e6frf7l6-1225856130244
and
http://au.tv.yahoo.com/sunrise/soapbox/article/-/article/7088868/is-anzac-day-still-relevant/
I really hope the nut job Nina reads the comments.
Glorifying white males....how do they think this stuff up??

Here are her contacts details if you'd like to tell her some facts that stem from reality not from some drug induced fantasy world.
I did.
http://datasearch2.uts.edu.au/fass/staff/listing/details.cfm?StaffId=2647

[Heath]

I did the same with my Grandfathers records. They make a great read and give a slight insight into their life in the armed forces.


Absolutely agreed. Lest we forget.



Something that might be of great interest to many people is the knowledge that you can view, online, service records of WW1 Aussie soldiers and some (but not all) WW2 Aussie soldiers by searching at this website....

http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/scripts/ResearcherScreen.asp

[Fatenhappy]

It was particularly interesting yesterday over in this part of the world (Dubai) to see that the Turkish people are just as reverent as Ozzies are, for both sides who have fallen .... it makes one appreciate that its only the blo#dy wankers pushing the buttons most times that get the rest of us in the sh*t ...

Lest we forget

[dnej]

Hitler promised additional territory to the Turks,after the war was supposed to be won.That is what they were fighting for.
They just backed the wrong side.
David

[TimiBoy]

Hitler promised additional territory to the Turks,after the war was supposed to be won.That is what they were fighting for.
They just backed the wrong side.
David

Hmmmm. Bit of wire crossing there - No one outside Hitler's platoon on the Western Front knew his name in WW1. He certainly made no promises to the Turks. The Leadership of the Austro-Hungarian Empire might have, or the Kaiser (Wilhelm) of Germany.

Hitler was a Corporal in the trenches in WW1.

Cheers,

Tim

[dnej]

Tim,
Point taken Tim. you would be on the right track in saying that. I will do my own research. Your comment is very valid, and I should have picked up on that my self.Different times.
David

[dnej]

From a Turkish pre war document
Tim you were spot on. I think the work Hitler, has been used to describe Germany, incorrectly in this case
David
In June, 1914, however, we ( Turkey) were surprised by an approach from the German government, which suggested that the project for an alliance be again considered. As we were in the same unhappy isolation as before, there seemed no reason for refusing this proposal.
The alliance was discussed in a series of meetings with the German ambassador [Note: Wangenheim], and agreement proved easy. A preliminary document was then prepared and signed, outlining the main points of the alliance, which was to be both military and political.
Just afterward there followed the series of events which culminated in the World War. We realized that Germany's change of attitude toward us must be due to her having foreseen some such warfare; but we still thought the alliance would benefit us. No European power would have welcomed us without expecting something valuable in return.
During the opening months of the War our position was very difficult. Practically we were already allied with Germany, and every day the German and Austrian ambassadors came to me urging our immediate entrance into the War. It would have been easy to have evaded them by pointing out that Italy, though a member of their alliance, had not joined them, or by showing that in invading Belgium, Germany had ignored her own signature to an alliance.