It was a very different Dawn Service for Anzac Day 2020 for us as we stood on our balconies and commemorated those who have served for us. Fellow blogger, Living on the Downs, has given permission for me to share her words.
On the 25th of April 1915 troops of the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps landed at a place future generations would known as Anzac Cove. They were part of the campaign to recapture the Gallipoli peninsula during World War One. Facing fierce resistance, the campaign dragged on for eight months until they were finally evacuated in December of that year. As a military campaign it was a failure, costing the lives of more than 8,000 Australian soldiers. But a legend was born – the legend of the ANZACS.
It is a story of courage under fire and loyalty to your mates, and the flame of that legend continues to burn brightly in the hearts and minds of Australians and our New Zealand cousins today. Every year on the 25th of April, we stop and we remember those who served and those who gave their lives in World War…
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The Reluctant Retiree 
You did so well with your blogs for Anzac Day Gwen!
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Thank you 🙂
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Thanks, Gwendolyn, for posting this wonderful tribute. My first unforgettable encounter with this piece of history was several years ago when I watched Anzac Girls on TV. Stunning and brutally honest in its depiction of life, death, fear and bravery during war.
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The (dramatised) mini-series was based on a book called “Anzac Girls: The Extraordinary Story Of Our World War 1 Nurses” which draws on actual diaries and letters. Co-incidentally, I’d just finished reading a history of the first fifty years of Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred Hospital when GP Cox and I began chatting about a topic for her tribute. Several of the nurses who trained there went on to serve in WW1
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I just now ordered Anzac Girls! Thanks for the tip. Several years ago, at John’s request, I did a piece on Sister Kenny, linking it to my mother and sister’s experiences with polio back in the late 1940s and 50s. I’d forgotten Sr. Kenny was also an Anzac woman, though I hadn’t forgotten how long it took for her pioneering efforts to be acknowledged in her own country. Here’s a short link if you’d like to take a look: https://wp.me/p32tHJ-2D9.
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Thank you for the link. I enjoyed the read and commented there. I’ve added Anzac Girls to my reading list. Some time back I read a self-published book that a descendent had put together from her nurse ancestor’s diaries. It’s clear these women ran themselves into the ground over the relentless years of nursing such critically wounded men.
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I will remember your fallen with you today.
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Thank you Lavinia.
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Thanks Gwen for reposting my Anzac Day thoughts here. It’s been a very different Anzac Day today but it is beautiful to see the way we can still come together and remember.
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Thank you very much. Enough said.
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