ANZAC DAY

Growing up ANZAC Day was a time to wear Dad's Medals at School and hear the stories of Gallipoli and of Simpson and His Donkey over the School Radio.

The Other Kid's had lots of medals and the Stories to go with them. 

Some of the Kids laughed at us because "Your Dad didn't go to War".

All we had were his Service Medals and the funny stories he told us of,  

"When I was Up Darwin".

It wasn't until we took Him on a Holiday, and called in to the Catalina Museum at Lake Boga did I find out what "When I was Up Darwin" ACTUALLY meant.  

When he told the attendant a story I had not heard.

"I remember the Catalinas on Darwin Harbour

 and I remember the day.... 

We were all out on the Parade Ground and we heard the aircraft coming." 

At this point his voice broke and the attendant nodded. 

"We all turned and waved and cheered because, we thought...'The Yanks had come'. 

And then they started firing".

It wasn't the Americans - It was the Japanese.

My Dad didn't Go to War - War came to Dad.

LEST WE FORGET

 19th February 1942.

ANZAC Day Weekend

A time to reflect and remember those that sacrificed so much.

AND with ANZAC Day falling on a Monday this year it gave a long weekend and the opportunity to finish the Deck at DS#1s place.  

A tricky ramp down to the Garage.  'Just' 14 short boards, but with DS#1 recovering from COVID, it took all Weekend to do.

Milestone Event: 

Little Miss H decided that Walking was better than Crawling, especially outside.

 - Now they will never catch her!

ANZAC DAY 2020

Commemorations and Catch Ups over a Beer and a Game of Two-Up. Not this Year.
Not since the 1919 Spanish Flu Pandemic have we been asked to Not Come.

Today we were asked to Remember Them - At Home.

Some Stood at Dawn in Gateways with Candles, Others created their own Eternal Flame with a Brazier and Flags.

Those that could from Children to Oldies played "Last Post" on any Instrument they had.
Eerie, Beautiful, Poignant.

From Simulcasts at the War Memorials to Wreaths made from Red Cup Cake Wrappers and Chalk on the Pavements-

We DID remember Them

They Will not be Forgotten.

Remember Them

I watched an animated movie the other night and it's message was 

"If just one person remembers me - I will live on"

When I was a Child, My Father told me that he had an Uncle who died in the Great War.

It must have made an impact as years later I looked for and found him.

Today I honour him by remembering him.

"Lest We Forget"

ANZAC Day

We WILL Remember Them...

We WILL Thank Them . . .

Lest We Forget

Taking time out to Remember . .

It is April 1916, the midpoint of the Great War.  Australian Units have begun to arrive in France.  For the first time the men of the AIF find themselves at the main battlefront of the mighty conflict.

At first, they encounter a pleasant land - a welcome change from sea voyages, the cliffs of Gallipoli, and the training camps of Egypt.  But in July, on the Somme, they will be thrown into one of the bloodiest, most destructive battles in history.

Over weeks, in a series of determined attacks against strong defences around the ruined village of Pozières, the Australians will suffer a rate of casualties so great as to be nearly unsustainable for the volunteer army of a small nation.  The AIF will confront its single worst day of the war at the battle of Fromelles, then endure six long weeks of fighting in the murderous ordeal that is Pozières.  The year will end in the most severe winter of trench warfare ever seen.

Many households will be cast into mourning.  In the face of such terrible losses, Australians will be asked to decide whether the conscription of civilians should be introduced.  The ensuing debate will leave the community riven with bitter divisions.  1916 will be a terrible year.

* * * * * *

I sat in the comfort of a Very Fast Train on a glorious spring day watching the fields speed past – and I thought of a man who “died of wounds” in a makeshift hospital, or in a field not so far away.

101 years later he is a Hero.

Was he a Hero?  I have no idea.

He was a husband, a Brother, an Uncle – a Great Uncle to children he never knew.

I know his name is etched on a Cenotaph on the foreshore of Portsea in Victoria Australia and that he now lies in a pretty and well cared for cemetery in the North of France.

One day I will visit him and leave an Aussie flag –

 to show him and others that “We DO Remember”.

ANZAC Text reference from The Australian War Memorial

100 Stories

Their faces have stared out at us from my Son's computer screen for the last 2 years.
Some lingered briefly, others stayed much longer.  Their stories for us at the time, were best not told, lest the work could not be completed.

With their photographs cleaned up, reconstructed, renewed and with the help of modern technology, these people were now able to step into the world once more.

They are the Men, Women and yes, Children who answered the call to fight for King and Country in the "Great War" - The War to end all Wars.


Stories of the ANZAC heroes that we learnt about in school are not here.
These are stories that only families know -
These are the stories that should not be forgotten.

* * * *

My Son's involvement in this project came about when Monash University approached him to animate the photographs so they could be placed in a Digital Presentation of the project for display at Australian War Memorials in time for the 100 Anniversary of the start of the Great War.

I watched him create 3D images where portraits ceased to be nameless faces on faded photographs of young men about to go to war, but of someone's Son, Husband, Brother, resplendent in Uniform about to embark on a great adventure.

I watched as he worked on images of faces so badly disfigured by mortar fire and saw the valiant yet hopeless attempts to reconstruct these faces by Surgeons trained on the battlefield.

By popular demand, these stories have been re-cast in a book.
Yesterday he received, from the Authors an autographed copy.

My Son's work is not printed in this book - to see his contribution to the 100 Stories Project will require time in quiet contemplation at any of the War Memorials that are showing the digital presentation.

The first 50 Stories
are available on-line at monash.edu/onehundredstories.

The book is available through
Penguin Publishing

ANZAC DAY - Lest we Forget

It is a miserable day out there.  Cold and wet, the rain occasionally hits the window - Is there sleet in it as well?
I am sitting here in my front room,  the wood fire is burning with it's mesmerising flame and warmth.

I found myself thinking "What an awful day for the ANZAC Day march!" and then my thoughts have wandered to the reason for this memorial day.  97 years ago battalions of soldiers landed on the wrong beach and the ANZAC legend was born.  They fought through the winter, lived and died in the pouring rain.  No warm fire - Yet an eternal Flame burns for each and every one of them.
Across Australia and New Zealand and where ever our troops are stationed we remember this day.  Lest we Forget.

Today my thoughts are especially with the Aussie Heroes who are serving overseas and at home.  The ones that will be receiving  the parcels we posted off as part of the Aussie Hero Quilt Program.  And also, especially of the owner of this hat.  God Bless you all and keep you safe until you are once again Home.

I am so proud of him.....of all of them

Photo from "The Age" on line

"We're right now - the Big Boys have arrived!" was a statement I heard last week, in an online interview recorded in a small country town that was besieged by flood waters. My Nephew was one of those 'Boys' who came, sent from a Victorian Army base to help with sandbagging against the impending flood.
With the water not 20 meters from his tent he sent home a message...
 "It's going to be a long night".
                               *********
Then the very same day I had an email come through from *Aussie Hero Quilts (and Laundry Bags) about how I could help make life a little more comfortable for our troops overseas.

So....  I have pulled out my Orphan blocks and started to put them together to make some quilts to send and have 'enlisted' a non quilting friend (yes, such a creature does exist) into making laundry bags.

This week I have been working on some Pink and Mauve "Drunkards Path" blocks (not all Heroes are Guys!) and next week I plan to pull out some of those excess blocks from a quilt I started a couple of years ago.  I realised the quilt was going to be WAY to big when I found myself moving the furniture to lay it out on the lounge room floor!  Oh well! At least they now have a purpose in life...
I may not get many done before the April 15th cut off date - but every little bit helps. And I can keep working for the Christmas shipment!





*Want to know more? - See Link on my sidebar to their Blog!

LEST WE FORGET

In Flanders' field the Poppies blow

between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved, and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders' Fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders' Fields.

                               Maj. John McCrae

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

We WILL Remember Them.

Studio portrait of Private (Pte) Arthur Mackay Boxshall, 22nd Battalion, of Sorrento, Vic. A labourer prior to enlistment, Pte Boxshall embarked with the 6th Reinforcements from Melbourne on HMAT Ulysses on 27th October 1915. Later transferring to the 2nd Pioneer Battalion, he died on 14th November 1916 of wounds received in action in France and is buried in the Warlencourt British Cemetery.