Tag: ANZAC
Remembrance Day 2012
“Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori” These words from Horace have survived since ancient times. Yet more often nowadays we read it in other contexts like: Ezra Pound: “some in fear, learning love of slaughter; Died some “pro patria, non dulce non et decor.” or Wilfred Owen’s excoriating Dulce et decorum est: “If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood Come gargling from … Continue reading Remembrance Day 2012
ANZAC 2012
I don’t think that many romanticise war too much these days. And there is something very poignant and compelling about seeing the fruits of war. In northern France and Belgium the unimaginable scale of loss wrought upon so many families in the great wars of the twentieth century is still visible at every step. It was in north eastern France that I found some family … Continue reading ANZAC 2012
ANZAC Day: remembering some ordinary diggers, not famous, not important #ANZAC
Another ANZAC Day and another day to remember the sacrifices made by Australian and New Zealand forces. Those who serve in battle never get off lightly, even if they manage to survive seemingly unscathed. This year I remember some family members – Claude and Tim from Crows Nest, and Henry Demas – who fought in the Second World War. These men were ordinary working class … Continue reading ANZAC Day: remembering some ordinary diggers, not famous, not important #ANZAC
Flanders mud is pretty bad too
Recently I visited the site in Flanders where John McCrae wrote the famouns pomen In Flanders Fields. It is at the Essex Farm Aid Station only a few kilometres from Ieper (aka Ypres). I visited on a cold, muddy and miserable day. The concrete bunker where the medicos triaged the wounded was not far from the various battlefields of the Ypres Salient. The site is … Continue reading Flanders mud is pretty bad too
The Somme really does have sticky mud
I have taken some time out from business meetings in Europe to make something of a personal pilgrimage in the steps of my ANZAC ancestors. It has been a very moving and very sombre experience. To see the tiny spaces of land fought over in World War 1 that resulted in so many deaths is beyond tragic. It is sobering to realise that every death … Continue reading The Somme really does have sticky mud
Traveling around Northern France – following tracks of Australians in World War 1
Since I am traveling around there is not always the time or the internet access to blog as often as I would like. Instead I’m sharing links to resources that are guiding my journey via Pearltrees: http://cdn.pearltrees.com/s/embed/getApp Continue reading Traveling around Northern France – following tracks of Australians in World War 1
Remembering 11-11
On Passing the New Menin Gate by Siegfried Sassoon Who will remember, passing through this Gate, The unheroic Dead who fed the guns? Who shall absolve the foulness of their fate,— Those doomed, conscripted, unvictorious ones? Crudely renewed, the Salient holds its own. Paid are its dim defenders by this pomp; Paid, with a pile of peace-complacent stone, The armies who endured that sullen swamp. … Continue reading Remembering 11-11
ANZAC – a New Zealand view
A good example of the fellow feeling across the Tasman for ANZAC day and all that it means is the speech by the New Zealand Governor-General, Dame Silvia Cartwright, at the 2004 ANZAC Day Dawn Service: “The presence of so many children and young men and women at ANZAC ceremonies is a stark reminder of the youth of those who fought for us. Look at … Continue reading ANZAC – a New Zealand view
ANZAC 2010 – Mapping our ANZACS
It seems appropriate this ANZAC Day to share a good online resource. Thus I commend to people the Australian National Archives site called Mapping our ANZACS. It provides a way to browse 375,971 records of service in the Australian Army during World War I according to the person’s place of birth or enlistment. Using this site I was able to find out about one of … Continue reading ANZAC 2010 – Mapping our ANZACS
Aide Mémoire 