The enduring lesson I learnt about ANZAC Day from the family members who served in either/both World Wars is that political incompetence costs lives, and that the sacrifices made by the dead are best honoured by the rest of us keeping a really close eye on our political class. I wish our mainstream media understood this ongoing need for vigilance better right now.
What’s piqued your media interests lately?
Because it’s Anzac Day, I’ve spent much of my time looking over the various diaries/letters of my greatuncles who took part in the Great War.
I have little to add to these quoted comments below from Paul Norton’s Anzac Day post at LP, which focuses on the militaristic myth side of Anzac Day. As usual, there are some illiterates objecting to the use of the word “myth” as if the word means “untrue in its entirety”. The usage of “myth” when discussing recent history always, of course, nearly always refers to the meanings 2b and 2c below:
So I’ll link you to other ozbloggers who’ve done it already! Edited to add: if there’s something you were intending to blog but haven’t got around to, or wish you had blogged but somebody else said it superbly first so… Read More ›
All over Australia and New Zealand, communities will gather around war memorials to remember those who have died in military service. We will listen to a speech, we will watch the laying of wreaths, we will recite the Ode to the Fallen, and we will listen to the Last Post. Later in the day we will watch those who survived, and those in service today, march to honour the dead. We will be reminded that such sacrifices should never be for unworthy causes.
We will remember them. Lest We Forget. The Dawn Service observed on ANZAC Day has its origins in an operational routine which is still observed by the Australian Army today. The half-light of dawn plays tricks with soldiers’ eyes and… Read More ›
Because it’s Anzac Day, I’ve spent much of my time looking over the various diaries/letters of my greatuncles who took part in the Great War. (Various cousins-once-removed and second-cousins have transcribed them over the years and sent out copies to… Read More ›
The news of Australia’s first military fatality in Iraq, which came just before Anzac Day, is a timely reminder of the fact that people at home in suits make decisions that cost soldiers overseas in uniform their lives. And those… Read More ›
Hoyden About Town 