- Young and old bear ANZAC torch -
26.04.2003 18:15:36
It is a day that begins with tears, falling softly in the dark.
There are stars overhead, a flickering eternal flame lighting the faces of those around, memories well up, and for those too young to remember the passing of a story that tells of the meaning of the words "greater love hath no man".
For the first time, Australia woke to an ANZAC Day without any of the original ANZACs who went ashore at Gallipoli 88 years ago.
It is a national wrench. In their place yesterday were often children who had taken hold of the legend and spirit of ANZAC.
In a moving fusion of past and present, they carried time-worn banners where once their great-grandfathers would have walked.
They wore old medals on the right side of their chests. Their faces shone with an innocence their great-grandfathers might once have had and lost.
At Gallipoli, Iraq and Hellfire Pass, and in cities and country towns throughout the nation, Australians bowed their heads to remember.
At Gallipoli – a place in Australia`s heart described by Les Carlyon as "bigger than the sum of its facts" – about 10,000 mostly young Australians and New Zealanders gathered amid tight security and fear of terrorism.
Among them was Angie Claridge, 16, great-granddaughter of Australia`s last ANZAC, Alec Campbell. Campbell, a boy soldier who upped his age to go to war, died last year, severing the nation`s flesh-and-bone link to Gallipoli.
At Hellfire Pass, on the 60th anniversary of Australians being enslaved and brutalised by the Japanese on the Thai-Burma railway – a part of Japan`s history still not taught to their children – several hundred pilgrims gathered by candlelight and birdsong.
Among them was Len Dunn, 80, who returned for the first time to face his memories.
In the Persian Gulf, where Australian troops remain on duty after war in Iraq, Defence Minister Robert Hill and Chief of the Defence Force General Peter Cosgrove joined hundreds of sailors, soldiers and air personnel who saw the ANZAC Day sun rise from the deck of HMAS Kanimbla.
"You have drawn a line in the sand on the issue of weapons of mass destruction," Senator Hill said. "Others of the like of Saddam Hussein, who hold weapons of mass destruction as a tool to strategic advantage, will know civilised communities will no longer tolerate such threats."
Throughout the country, huge crowds turned out as Australia remembered. More than ever, they were young.
In Canberra, John Howard was given a rapturous reception. He said ANZAC Day was a celebration of courage, valour, mateship, decency and "a willingness as a nation to do the right thing, whatever the cost".
He gave thanks for the safety of the troops in Iraq, and said: "They went in our name in a just cause to do good things to liberate a people."
Only two of Australia`s nine surviving World War I Diggers attended ANZAC Day marches.
In Sydney, Marcel Caux, 104, who was 16 when he enlisted, said ANZAC Day was a time to remember the "colossal losses". He felt "very sad" when Australian troops were sent to Iraq. "War is not a good thing," he said. "Never was."
In Brisbane, Ted Smout, 105, was thrilled by the number of children who turned out. "I think it`s very important Australia remembers."
In Melbourne, where about 20,000 people attended the dawn service, tears fell to remember how 10 years ago World War I veteran Robert Comb, who served in battles on the Western Front, sprinkled soil from Pozieres, France, over the coffin of Australia`s unknown soldier and said: "Now you`re home, mate."
Melbourne High School student Chris Peck spoke of his pilgrimage to Gallipoli last year. "I was 15," he said. "It`s a bit of a shock to realise many of my age said they were older to enlist and serve their country."
At Doomadgee in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Aboriginal people performed a dance created for ANZAC Day, while in Melbourne before the traditional ANZAC Day AFL match, Essendon chairman Graeme McMahon called for a national memorial dedicated to Australia`s more than 34,000 prisoners of war.
And yet ANZAC Day remains ambiguous: ironic and sentimental, with jarring anachronisms like God Save the Queen, imbued with reflection on the national character. It is still the one day of the year, as Alan Seymour called it, but the cynicism of his title has vanished, leaving conviction in its place.
It is the one day we recognise the difference of these people, who once were almost all of us. It is a day for reunions and old songs and battalions walking by and hymns and prayers and thoughts for the 100,000 Australians who died in war, and for two-up.
It is a day when those who went to war smile and shake hands with strangers who stand applauding and sometimes call out to them: "You`re still my heroes."
acknowledge:
by The Australian
http://www.news.com.au
>>> Click Here To See All Archives 2003 Headlines <<<
|
|
