- Thousands mark ANZAC legend -
25.04.2003 12:57:04
The ANZAC legend of courage, loyalty and mateship was celebrated across NSW today with
tens of thousands of people gathering in towns and cities to mark ANZAC Day.
As rain clouds cleared in Sydney this morning, more than 23,000 people took to the city`s streets for the annual march.
Diggers said the war in Iraq had helped bring home the ANZAC message and boost crowds at commemorations.
In Newcastle, veterans were surprised by the number of young people among the 4,000 who joined the traditional dawn service on Nobbys Beach.
"The war in Iraq brings it home to them, what war is about and what ANZAC is about," said Newcastle RSL Club president Doug Jackson.
The impact of war in Iraq on ANZAC Day commemorations also was noted by Air Vice Marshall John Kindler in his address to the dawn service at Sydney`s Martin Place Cenotaph.
Air Vice Marshall Kindler said 88 years after the first ANZACs landed at Gallipoli, Australia was again at war, with troops engaged in conflict in Iraq.
"This morning we will salute and pay tribute to the ANZACs who have upheld the spirit of all Australians," he said.
World War I veteran Marcel Caux
Sydney`s ANZAC Day march was led by 104-year-old World War I veteran Marcel Caux - one of only two surviving NSW veterans of that conflict.
It was only a few years ago that the decorated soldier admitted to his son Marcus, who accompanied him today, that he had fought for Australia during World War I.
This year`s commemoration also marked the first year without any surviving Gallipoli veterans, after
Alec Campbell died last May.
But NSW Premier Bob Carr, speaking after the march at the annual memorial service in Hyde Park, said the spirit of ANZAC Day was not only the preserve of veterans.
"It is owned by all Australians," he told the crowd.
"The ANZAC spirit, more than anything else, is what defines us as a nation."
Dawn services and other commemorations were held in cities and towns across NSW.
Up to 4,000 veterans marched in Wollongong for about 10,000 spectators while Newcastle had a 3,000-strong march and about 3,500 took to the streets in Dubbo.
With official services over, it was off to the pub where the cry of "Come in spinner" could be heard in every corner.
This year`s ANZAC celebrations had more meaning because of the war in Iraq, NSW State President of the Returned and Services League of Australia, Keith Hall, said tonight.
"To me the atmosphere this year seemed to be electrical, there`s been something about it," he said after addressing the Sunset Service in Martin Place tonight.
"The people of Australia have been able to see very clearly and define in their own minds that the freedom we`ve taken for granted ... was not available in a country like Iraq."
Among the crowd of about 1,000 at the service, was an emotional James Finaly, 78, who served in Borneo and New Guinea in the airforce from 1942.
"My father was in the first World War," Mr Finaly said, pointing to one of the military medals on his jacket.
"I`ve been coming to the march here every year since 1946 and it`s very moving, all this."
acknowledge:
by Sydney Morning Herald
http://www.smh.com.au
>>> Click Here To See All Archives 2003 Headlines <<<
|
|
