Happy Anzac Day

[DriftyGypsy]

For those across the dateline today is April 30 also known as Anzac Day so Michelle and all you other Kiwis smoke somethng good...

[SDmate]

a little kiwi history lesson:)

Anzac Day occurs on 25 April. It commemorates all New Zealanders killed in war and also honours returned servicemen and women.
Remembering Gallipoli, 1916



The date itself marks the anniversary of the landing of New Zealand and Australian soldiers – the Anzacs – on the Gallipoli Peninsula in 1915. The aim was to capture the Dardanelles, the gateway to the Bosphorus and the Black Sea. At the end of the campaign, Gallipoli was still held by its Turkish defenders.

Thousands lost their lives in the Gallipoli campaign: 87,000 Turks, 44,000 men from France and the British Empire, including 8500 Australians. To this day, Australia also marks the events of 25 April. Among the dead were 2721 New Zealanders, almost one in four of those who served on Gallipoli.

It may have led to a military defeat, but for many New Zealanders then and since, the Gallipoli landings meant the beginning of something else – a feeling that New Zealand had a role as a distinct nation, even as it fought on the other side of the world in the name of the British Empire.

Anzac Day was first marked in 1916. The day has gone through many changes since then. The ceremonies that are held at war memorials up and down New Zealand, or in places overseas where New Zealanders gather, remain rich in tradition and ritual befitting a military funeral
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nzlscant/images/poppy2.gif

[galaga]

Happy ANZAC, Mates.

[physiognomy]

For those across the dateline today is April 30 also known as Anzac Day so Michelle and all you other Kiwis smoke somethng good...

You're a few days behind schedule mate, but thanks for the sentiments :ss

Anzac Day is commemorated by Australia and New Zealand on 25 April every year... (click) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANZAC_Day)

[hotreds]

Anybody who saw the movie Gallipoli can't help but be sobered. Bless 'em all!

[68TriShield]

The Aussie's and Kiwi's were very storied warriors...

[CobraSkip]

I must wish all you downunder my best wishes on ANZAC day.
It brings to mind a time when I was in Alice Springs on Apr 25 and watched a parade and got to talking to a native who told me what it was all about. He asked me to join him and follow the parade to its end at a memorial on a hilltop. Following the ceremony he asked me to join him at what in this country would be a VFW hall. The Aussies and VB finished my day.
It reminded me of what we used to celebrate as Armistice Day (11/11) with the poppies and all. For you youngins the solemn celebration of Armistice Day has degenerated into Veterans Day

[Kiwi Michelle]

If I stepped out of the banter thead a little more often I might have seen this earlier!!

The great thing about Anzac day is that kids are becoming more interested in celebrating this day than ever. One would have thought that as time went on and so many of the soldier have passed over that the interest in this day may have dwindled.

No members of my family were involved in Gallipoli but my father in law was captured twice in the second world war and spent some time in Stalag 7. We have his leather wristband that he wore while he was there.

Lest we forget................