On Anzac Day we will remember them

25th April - is Anzac Day in Australia and New Zealand.

"ANZAC Day goes beyond the anniversary of the landing on Gallipoli in 1915. It is the day we remember all Australians and New Zealanders who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations. The spirit of ANZAC, with its human qualities of courage, mateship, and sacrifice, continues to have meaning and relevance for our sense of national identity".

To read more - click here - www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/anzac/

In January we visited our national capital, Canberra. The images below are from the Australian War Memorial - it is also a museum which is an amazing place to visit - and I encourage all Australian's to visit at least once in their life time - and allow at least one whole day to see it. The museum takes you through all the various conflicts up to the present day that Australians have been involved in - and gives you an insight into what our "diggers" went through and the thousands and thousands of lives that have been lost.

On the wall of remembrance you can place a poppy next to the name of loved ones who lost their lives in war.

We found the name of my great-uncle Norman Albert Clayden who lost his life in Gallipoli on 2 May 1915 (aged 19), and
my husbands uncle, Richard Ramsden who died as a prisoner of war on 29 October 1943 in Burma (aged 23).

As they are both buried overseas, at Lone Pine in Gallipoli and at Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery in Myanmar (Burma), it was wonderful to be able to place a poppy next to their name at the Canberra War Memorial.

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Tomorrow morning we will go to the Dawn Service in Bunbury which is an event that happens on Anzac Day all around the country in cities and towns, overseas where servicemen are still serving, where Australians and New Zealanders gather, at memorials in France, and on the shores of Gallipoli  where thousands go every Anzac Day to honour and remember.

The statue below is a copy of one originally forming part of a memorial which was erected at Port Said, Egypt, and unveiled on 23 November 1932, to remember members of the Australian Light Horse, New Zealand Mounted Rifles, the Imperial Camel Corps, and the Australian Flying Corps, who lost their lives in Egypt, Palestine, and Syria 1916-1918.  The statue was irreparably damaged during the Suez crisis in 1956.  The remnants were brought to Australia and two bronze replicas were made, the first erected in Albany, Western Australia in 1964. The second is this one in Canberra.

The memorial in Albany has been part of my consciousness all my life - and I have always been in awe of the image that the statue portrays of the two servicemen and their horses. Albany was the place from where Australian troops left on their way to fight in World War 1. For many thousands it was the last time they were to be on Australian soil.

Also on display in Canberra was one of the bronze horse heads from the original memorial, and now forming a memorial  to "Animals in War". For those who have seen the wonderful movie "War Horse", it is heart warming that a memorial has been erected in their memory.

Update - ANZAC Day - 25 April 2012

Images from this morning's Dawn Service in Bunbury

 After visiting Canberra, and researching and learning more about Norman and Richard, I found the Dawn Service even more moving and poignant as I thought about these two young men and the circumstances under which they died so far from home and how it must have affected their mother's and families.

Following the Dawn Service in Bunbury we were blessed with this beautiful sunrise - it was a timely reminder of all that we have to be thankful and grateful for.....

My sincere thanks to Flickr contact Stewart Glasson who took the time to research and send me links from The War Graves Photographic Project - click on the link here if you want to do research of your own - War Graves Photographic Project
which has lead us to more information about Norman and Richard - including an actual photo of Richard's grave site, and information about the Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery in Myanmar and background information and history about the war years and the people who are buried there.
We sincerely thank you.