We will remember them

This time last year I wrote a series of posts on Anzac Day.

When we commemorate this day we do not glorify war. By studying what went on before; by really knowing about the men and women that fought and died so bravely that we might have peace, we come to realise that we will never want war because we know the real horror that it brings. By remembering Anzac Day we come to glorify peace.

Peace. Not war.

I have heard people say that they do not teach Australian History to their children because of our Larrikin past; that they would rather teach using good role models like Abraham Lincoln or George Washington. There are many great men in America's past, but it is the sacrifice and heroism of the every day men and women of Australia that makes our great land so special. The young people who gave their all that we might live and raise our children here in this beautiful country in peace. The young people of the Australian Defence Forces who still are.

That's why I remember Anzac Day.

That's why I will always remember them.

Will you?



This weekend:

• We'll read lots of books.
• We'll eat biscuits.
• We'll watch The Lighthorsemen and remember my Grandpa and eat more biscuits.
• We'll attend at pre-dawn service, and drink our Anzac Day hot chocolate.
• We'll visit the War Memorial and search out grandpa's name written in gold on the wall.
• We'll watch a parade.
• We'll talk, we'll laugh and we'll remember.

Jemimah will remember them too. It will not have been in vain.

The Soul of Australia

In the light of dawn, the break of day,
Through the waters chill they fought their way;
Like their sires of old, to the Motherland
They came o’er the sea, and they sprang to the strand;
And the blood of the Angles, the Scot, and the Celt
Grew hot in their veins as the war fire they felt.

In the light of noon, in the bright sunlight,
They fought up the cliffs from height to height;
And the sun shone down on that scene of strife
Where the ‘Soul of Australia’ came to life,
As the blood of Australians was shed on the sod,
For Australia, for Britain, Humanity, God.

Shall Australia mourn for the sons she has lost-
Should Australians weep? Nay! Great though the cost,
Joy mingles with grief, and pride mingles with pain,
For our boys died like heroes, and died not in vain.
And the ‘Soul of Australia’, new-born on that day
When her sons died at ANZAC, shall never decay.

J.H.M.
The Brisbane Courier, 25 April 1916