A Salute to ANZAC Day

The Australian Light Horse Regiment invited dawn to outshine their candlelight ceremony this morning at Talil Airbase, Iraq. Across the globe, Aussies and their Kiwi cousins gathered to mark the 93rd anniversary of the landings that launched the Gallipoli Campaign.

Military history and popular culture alike view Gallipoli as a disaster of poor planning aggravated and needlessly prolonged by institutional and bureaucratic egotism. The debacle is mitigated only by the ingenuity displayed during the Allies' withdrawel.

The Australian New Zealand Army Corp lost over 10,000 those hellish nine months in 1915, with near 25,000 wounded. The goal of the campaign, to open a third front on the Southern flank of the Central Powers, failed utterly.

Over the years, ANZAC Day has become for Aussies a sort July 4th / Memorial Day / Veteran's Day all rolled into one. It is a signature date that anchors their national identity. Australians unite not to celebrate a triumphant victory nor to mourn and ruminate on a hurtful defeat. They join together to remember and honor the sacrifice of their mates who fell in common purpose.

While Gallipoli was fought in vain, those who fell there did not die in vain so long as their selflessness is celebrated and their example honored.

That's why we're pleased at the Iraq Memorial Portal to launch this blog on ANZAC Day, 2008.

And, after pausing for Eric Bogle's iconic tune, we plan on cracking a Foster's and gettin' rowdy -- as is (we're reliably informed) Australian custom.




Footnote: Evacuated from Gallipoli, the 4th Light Horse regrouped in Egypt and remounted for history's last successful cavalry charge. Galloping through the Ottoman lines at Beersheba Wells, the Aussies opened up the third front the Allies were seeking at Gallipoli.