I was only 19. Lest we forget on Anzac Day. ANZACs

Anzac Day

As the poet Laurence Binyon says:

They shall grow not old,
As we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them,
Nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun,
And in the morning,
We will remember them.

These words have become indelibly part of the Anzac story.

Both an official acronym for the 'Australian and New Zealand Army Corps', an army made from the Australian Imperial Force and the New Zealand Expeditionary Force for the First World War and an informal term for any soldier from said army. The Anzacs fought in Gallipoli, Palestine and the Western Front.

Anzac Day is commemorated on April 25th in Australia and New Zealand every year, the date of the Gallipoli landings.

In the early hours of April 25, at various Shrines of Remembrance, cenotaphs and war memorials everywhere in Australia and New Zealand, there is a gathering of the men and women who have gone to war and returned, and with their families and friends gather for a dawn service that heralds the start of another Anzac Day.

This is a day of remembrance -- of the deaths and sufferings in war, the valor of fighting men and women, and the ever-present hope for the peoples of the world to live together in harmony and lasting peace.

And, as every Anzac Day service recalls, "at the going down of the sun and in the evening we will remember them." .

Anzac Day, a public holiday in Australia and New Zealand, commemorates the landing at Gallipoli in 1915 of the two countries' fighting men, the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, during World War I.

This was the war that was impossible to win and marked the end of Australia's age of innocence as Australians and New Zealanders alike witnessed and heard reports of the distant booming guns and the cries of the dying.

All in all, in the Gallipoli Campaign which ultimately ended in defeat, more than 8700 Australians and between 2400 and 2721 New Zealanders were killed. In relation to the two countries' population at the time, this was a massive loss of lives -- a sacrifice remembered deeply on Anzac Day.

Note: The Australian death toll figure is from the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. The larger New Zealand death toll is sourced from New Zealand official figures released in 1932.

The last of the Gallipoli diggers has gone. In 2006, for the first time since the Gallipoli Campaign, no Gallipoli survivor marched in an Anzac Day parade. There was only a riderless horse. The Gallipoli veterans are gone.

My maternal grandfather and many uncles and close relatives also gone. My grand father served in both world wars. He was a cavalry (Troops trained to fight on horseback ) soldier in the first world war where, he cribbed his age to be enrolled. Although each of my uncles came back from world war two with their father, they were emotionally and physically wrecked in many areas of their lives. One uncle never married and due to having a piece of shrapnel enter into his skull he lost an eye and carried a metal plate in his head to keep his skull intact. Life for him was painfully short after the war.

My grand father lived until his late eighties and always marched proudly on ANZAC DAY.

Turkish tribute

In 1934, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who led the fighting Turks at Gallipoli and became founder of the Turkish Republic in 1923, paid tribute to the Anzacs:

Those heroes that shed their blood And lost their lives...
You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country.
Therefore, rest in peace.
There is no difference between the Johnnies
And the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side,
Here in this country of ours.
You, the mothers, who sent their sons from far away countries...
Wipe away your tears.
Your sons are now lying in our bosom
And are in peace.
After having lost their lives on this land, they have
Become our sons as well.

Below is a reminder of the Vietnam war however Austalia has also been represented in other troubled areas besides World War One ie World War II, Vietnam, Korea, Desert Storm, Bosnia, Somalia, East Timor, Iraq -- and today Anzac Day honors the soldiers of these battles as well.

 

Lest we ever forget.

 

 

 

I Was Only 19 (A Walk in the Light Green)

Mum and Dad and Denny saw the passing out parade at Puckapunyal,
(1t was long march from cadets).
The Sixth Battalion was the next to tour and it was me who drew the card…
We did Canungra and Shoalwater before we left.

And Townsville lined the footpath as we marched down to the quay;
This clipping from the paper shows us young and strong and clean;
And there's me in my slouch hat, with my SLR and greens…
God help me, I was only nineteen.

From Vung Tau riding Chinooks to the dust at Nui Dat,
I'd been in and out of choppers now for months.
But we made our tents a home, VB and pin-ups on the lockers,
and an Asian orange sunset through the scrub.

And can you tell me, doctor, why I still can't get to sleep?
And night time's just a jungle dark and a barking M16?
And what's this rash that comes and goes, can you tell me what it means?
God help me, I was only nineteen.

A four week operation, when each step could mean your last one on two legs:
it was a war within yourself.
But you wouldn't let your mates down 'til they had you dusted off,
so you closed your eyes and thought about something else.

Then someone yelled out "Contact"', and the bloke behind me swore.
We hooked in there for hours, then a God almighty roar;
Frankie kicked a mine the day that mankind kicked the moon: -
God help me, he was going home in June.

1 can still see Frankie, drinking tinnies in the Grand Hotel
on a thirty-six hour rec. leave in Vung Tau.
And I can still hear Frankie lying screaming in the jungle.
'Till the morphine came and killed the bloody row

And the Anzac legends didn't mention mud and blood and tears,
and stories that my father told me never seemed quite real
I caught some pieces in my back that I didn't even feel…
God help me, I was only nineteen.

And can you tell me, doctor, why I still can't get to sleep?
And why the Channel Seven chopper chills me to my feet?
And what's this rash that comes and goes, can you tell me what it means?
God help me,
I was only nineteen.

return to Portrait - The Very Best of John Schumann

A little about John Schumann.

John's initial "claim to fame" was as lead singer, and principal songwriter of Australian music act "Redgum". Songs like "I've Been to Bali Too" and the anthemic "I Was Only 19" still resonate through the Australian consciousness and are still very much part of our musical landscape. Not only are these songs "classics" in the true sense of the word, but John's lyrics paint vivid pictures in the memories of many people, both young and old.

"I Was Only 19" was the initial spur for a Royal Commission and kick-started a series of events which culminated in the Vietnam Veterans Welcome Home March in Sydney, 1987.

John Schumann has been the recipient of numerous music and theatre awards including a number of gold and platinum records, 2 Golden Guitars, a Pater Award, a Mo Award and 2 APRA Awards.

Simply put - John Schumann enjoys a well-deserved reputation as one of the more perceptive, intelligent and talented artists Australia has produced in the last 20 years.

****** Here is a link to my friend Jacqui's page for a New Zealander's tribute to ANZAC DAY.