ANZAC Day - 25th April - what it means to me

What does this annual commemoration mean to me?

author: Laurence Binyon (1869-1943), an ode from his poem For The Fallen
image source

Those words never fail to create a lump in my throat, as I begin to imagine the sheer volume of losses that occurred at Anzac Cove (although the poem wasn't referring to this particular event; in fact it was written earlier, in 1914).

Each year, just before ANZAC Day, all around NZ we see the distinctive red poppies (in paper form) available at fundraising tables for the RSA (Returned Services' Association). A history on this symbol can be read about here.

Also on this day, as a national sign of respect, NZ has long maintained a law of restricted retail shopping hours - whereby non-exempted stores are not allowed to open for business until 1pm on the 25th.
The one thing guaranteed to get me riled is a greedy retail store opening during ANZAC morning, and those shoppers who cannot wait until after 1pm to shop in them!

There have been many, many things written, filmed, photographed, etc about what happened, and so that is not what I want to focus on here. You can read down the timeline of events for that day here to get some perspective.

I was lucky in that I did not lose any close relatives in this campaign, but as a genealogist, whenever I do come across information on military personnel (or families of) who lost their lives during the war, I have great sympathy for them and yet can only begin to imagine the sheer horror of being smack-dab in the middle of the fighting - let alone the horrible conditions they had to live in.

I admire any and all who signed up, regardless of my personal feelings about war in general. I feel blessed and thankful that my family lives in a time (so far, at least) where it hasn't been necessary for anyone to be called-up to defend our country. Knowing my child was away and in the middle of a war zone would absolutely terrify me, and I can empathise greatly with all the families were left who waiting for word about their loved ones overseas during the Gallipoli campaign - and indeed the whole of WWI (and II).

I only hope that this project I started goes a small way to helping commemorate this important day, and I humbly thank all those other people on Steemit who also contributed to such a worthy cause. I urge you to read each and every wonderful post.

image source

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I researched and wrote about twelve people involved in the Gallipoli campaign, the links to which I have listed below. I hope to do more next year, and each year after that. The blockchain is the perfect place to cement these oft-Unsung Heroes into their place in history.

As a genealogist it wasn't easy to constrain myself to not going off and researching each person's larger family tree! But I tried.

https://steemit.com/anzac/@ravenruis/anzac-archibald-ferguson

https://steemit.com/anzac/@ravenruis/anzac-william-john-calder

https://steemit.com/anzac/@ravenruis/anzac-the-gray-boys

https://steemit.com/anzac/@ravenruis/anzac-robert-edward-kelly

https://steemit.com/anzac/@ravenruis/anzac-bertie-william-bentley-shaw

https://steemit.com/anzac/@ravenruis/anzac-bergh-brothers

https://steemit.com/anzac/@ravenruis/anzac-herbert-clyde-evans

https://steemit.com/anzac/@ravenruis/anzac-john-joseph-wass

https://steemit.com/anzac/@ravenruis/anzac-the-begg-brothers

https://steemit.com/anzac/@ravenruis/anzac-george-robert-paterson

https://steemit.com/anzac/@ravenruis/anzac-christopher-gorvett-clement-veitch

https://steemit.com/anzac/@ravenruis/anzac-the-westrupp-family-of-soldiers

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