ANZAC Day
It is ANZAC Day in Australia and New Zealand, which is similar to the American Veterans Day, in that it began as a remembrance of World War I, and has become more generalized over the years.
“Anzac Day commemorates the involvement of Australian and New Zealand troops in a World War I campaign on the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey.”
The Gallipoli Campaign began as a Winston Churchill [then First Lord of the Admiralty] plan that spun out of control and got a lot of people killed on both sides with nothing much changing, but then, that was quite common in World War I.
Peter Weir made a movie, Gallipoli, which, if nothing else, proves that Sergeant Alvin York, and T.E. Lawrence weren’t the only people who fought in World War I.
[Note: The date is April 25 which April 24 in the US because of the time difference.]
5 comments
And in other news, April 25 is World Penguin Day. Yay!
I have corrected my oversight 😉
Thanks Bryan. 🙂 At least I know you sincerely respect those who served & died, even if it was for stupid political reasons.
I went to the local dawn service as I do every year. To remember my G’father who was there, and my fallen m8’s later.
Online today, on Twitter I was confronted with Turdbull & Cash wearing flak vest & helmets saluting solders! I felt such a rage I haven’t felt in a long time!! Took me ages to calm down. Thanks mainly to the kitties who were really worried, Mr Kitty was looking at me wide eyed & ready to bolt! Missie fears nothing, she just jumped up & purred at me! LOL Hard to stay mad with that. Sat on the divan with Kittie purring in my lap & Missie on my shoulder purring (and nose dripping) on me! Her nose drips when she purrs. Weird.
Don’t know what I would have done otherwise.
Anyway, thanks m8. And you too badtux! 😉
On a more serious note, Gallipoli basically was the start of the modern nation of Turkey. It “made” the career of a young military officer by the name of Mustafa Kemal, who later became known as Kemal Attaturk, the founder of Turkey, when he continued his dastardly resistance to Allied invasion of Anatolia after the Sultan formally surrendered.
And now we don’t even have that as the only positive outcome of the battle, since Erdogan just finished dismantling Kemal’s legacy and basically set himself up as the new Ottoman Sultan.
My maternal grandfather and several of his brothers fought in France. One of my great uncles was gassed and died of complication after returning home. He was the youngest of the 18 siblings to die. As long as one person remembers that you lived, you don’t really die.
You’re right, Badtux, Turkey is toast. Erdogan has ‘trumped’ Attaturk.