You’ve probably never heard about ANZAC Day before, and that is completely understandable. So, I’ll give a (very brief) explanation of what it is.
ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. This refers to the combined forces of, obviously, Australia and New Zealand.
Anzac Day is always commemorated on the 25th of April of every year, primarily in Australia and New Zealand, but sometimes in other commonwealth nations as well. It lies on the 25th, as it was the day that the allied forces (Including the Anzacs) landed on the shores of Gallipoli, in what is now modern day Turkey.
Today, I had the honour of marching alongside veterans of all sorts in Melbourne up to the Shrine of Remembrance, an important shrine in Melbourne that commemorates the fallen soldiers.
Actually you know what? I’ll let this livestream do the talking:
I've put a list of time stamps where I deem important here:
Author’s edit: They cut out the intermission at the start, so all the timelines I provided are now back 3 minutes from what I have written.
3:15 - Program begins
4:44 to 11:04 - The Dawn Service. (The Last Post is played from 5:45 to 7:18)
15:50 - March begins. Starting off with the Official Party, made up of soldiers and veterans.
20:56 to 23:49 - The sailors of the Royal Australian Navy marches (As in they appear on camera). In all Australian military parades, the Navy is always in the front.
24:43 to 31:39 - The soldiers of the Australian Army makes its appearance. The Army always comes second, after the Navy. Also from 35:48 to 36:28.
36:29 to 37:12 - The Tattam Wallace Marching Band. The marching band of Melbourne High School (First public school in Victoria). Basically, kids wearing goofy uniforms and playing instruments for the funni.
37:13 to 39:08 - The airmen of the Royal Australian Air Force marches. The Air Force always comes last in any parade.
Along side just veterans, there are cadets (all Navy Army and Air Force), marching bands from other schools as well (some plays bagpipes)
For a while it’s just veterans marching, with MHS cadets holding banners.
2:38:52 - A smol group of Australian Army Cadets marches (I’m not part of it).
2:39:03 - A MASSIVE group of Australian Air Force Cadets marches.
Then scouts. No one cares about scouts.
You can explore the rest if you want, this is just the parts I like.
I won’t say which banner I was holding specifically, as I still value my anonymity, but I’ll give you some clues:
- I’m an Army Cadet (obviously), so ignore the Navy and Air Force Cadets wearing the sailor uniform, or blue police-like uniform.
- This being said, the banner I hold is only related to the Army.
- The banner I’m holding does not relate to Vietnam, or any South-East Asian nation.
- I appeared less than 5 times.
This is my first time marching in the middle of Melbourne, so that’s all I’m saying. Sorry I just value my privacy. Maybe in four years time…
Whilst Anzac Day certainly places a lot of emphasis on the Gallipoli campaign and the Australians and Kiwis that served there, that is most definitely not the case.
If you actually have the interest to watch the entire 3 hour long program (I applaud you immensely), there are veterans (or relatives of) that served in South-East Asia (specifically, Vietnam, but also South-East Asia), Korea, the Middle East (Iraq, Kuwait), Afghanistan and so forth.
There are also veterans (or relatives of) of foreign nations that also have representation here in Australia, either they are physically or by organization. They include South Vietnam Veterans (There’s quite a few of them), French, Greek, Turkish, American, Polish and so on.
Please excuse my yapping, I shall wrap this up soon.
Anzac Day is a day of commemoration, not celebration. It is a day of reflection, grievances and also gratitude for those that have defended our nation’s freedom that we so much enjoy today. This day transcends the diverse background of which Australia is built upon. It reminds us the fragility of peace, and how important it is to uphold, especially in such uncertain and unstable times, and how determined some are to protecting that freedom and peace, even if it meant paying the ultimate price.
It is days like these that make me proud of being an Australian.
Lest we forget.
“Tommy” - Illustrated by Richard Harpum