Anzac Day

Sdajii said:

That's sad. I'm not surprised to hear that such people exist, but I'm sure they're not proportionately common.

It's difficult to see anything about ANZAC Day in any context which is actually set up as a recruitment drive. It's always a sombre affair. There will always be a few exceptions to any rule when it comes to people and their points of view.

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Sdajii said:

I don't exactly agree, but if you want to say they fought for nothing (it's not what they'd have said at the time, but yes, more than anything they'd have been told 'do it for England' or something roughly equivalent so you could sort of make the point), then it makes it even more ridiculous to be grateful to the ANZACs for their sacrifice which has allowed us 'what we have today', because according to you, their deaths were actually just completely meaningless not just in outcome but in the very initial intentions before their deaths occurred.

Again, this begs the question of what we are supposed to not be forgetting when we say 'lest we forget'. You can not deny that different people would have different guesses as to what it was and that those guesses have changed over time, which means we obviously haven't remembered, which makes it an incredibly ironic thing to be saying. The day literally doesn't even have the same official meaning as it originally did.

I can't say lest we forget because most of us forgot long ago, but I do encourage people to actually learn the history and discover what it is 'lest we forget' originally referred to.

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Value Collector said:

I don't believe it was "setup" as a recruitment drive, but if you don't think that public displays of adulation and a culture of respect for service men past and present helps boost future recruitment, you are crazy.

I can honestly say, that having grown up seeing the extent that my family held military service in such high regard, and seeing the crowds line the pavement each year to wave at the soldiers wearing medals on Anzac Day marches was a major contributing factor to my teenage self wanting to join the Army.

Not to mention that younger soldiers look up to their older more experienced colleagues walking around with a chest full of medals want that for them selves.

I can remember being quite young, probably 7 or 8 and seeing the Vietnam Vets etc on ANZAC day wearing their medals and thinking to myself one day I would like to go to war and some medals and march in parades etc.

fast forward 30 years, and I have my medals, But I don't wear them they are in an old ammunition tin in my cupboard, nor do I march in any parade.

I am not against others wearing their medals, I just don't feel the need, for me as I said its a sombre day, and I feel wearing the medals would be drawing attention to myself.

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Dona Ferentes said:

Nearly all the 900,000-plus Australians who pulled on a uniform in WWII to defend a deeply imperilled nation have passed

Fewer than 2500 members of that generation remain, at an average age of 99.6, according to the Department of Veterans’ Affairs. Within two years, they will number in the mere hundreds.

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Dona Ferentes said:

And the overlooked conflict. Korea 1950 - 1953

Australian Forces remained in Korea as part of the multi-national peacekeeping force until 1957. Over 17,000 Australians served during the Korean War, of which 340 were killed and over 1,216 wounded.

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wayneL said:

My best mate's dad served there, copped some shrapnel in his belly which took out a fair bit of his small intestine. Passed his early 60s from complications.

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wayneL said:

So while we're talking about this, my dad served in North Africa during World war Two. He was in the royal engineers so not really a Frontline unit. Nevertheless got hot by artillery and was the only survivor in his group.... Massive head and facial injuries. Basically his forehead got caved in and lost some of his frontal lobe.

In the triage evaluation they left him till last because they didn't think he would survive anyway.

He spent 2 years and hospital in Oxford, and had a metal plate inserted in his forehead. Because of his brain injuries he was on a 60% war disability pension, which was a pittance anyway.

He still got married her children ran a business anyway, nobody knew about his injuries except us... And to be honest even we didn't really understand the extent of them.

During his recovery because of the length of the time he was on morphine he was hopelessly addicted. Cigarettes became the replacement and he was a chain smoker his entire life. Died at lung cancer at 65.

Looking back he was most certainly also a sufferer of PTSD.

So this Anzac Day, and every Anzac Day, we should look back and not only the dead but maybe some things that are worse than dying.... Injuries, the memories, the PTSD, waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, because these guys cannot forget what happened.

Maybe then we should reflect on these things they died and suffered for, and just like slicing salami, gradually they are greater removing.

Also think about your kids and grandkids who will have to die and suffer all over again to restore the liberties that we have so taken for granted.

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Sean K said:

Marching again this year, of course.

Thank you to those saluting veterans.

(edit - this picture is a bit bigger than expected - yikes! what happened to my hair.)

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