ANZAC Day

Anzac Day (Australian & New Zealand Army Corp)

April 25th is Anzac Day, Downunder. Originally 25th April marked the day the Anzacs landed at Gallipoli in 1915. They suffered horrendous losses to overwhelming opposition, but held their ground for eight months.

Today the 25th is celebrated as a tribute to all Australians and New Zealanders who served and died in the service of their countries.

Reflecting the spirit of the Anzacs is the tale of one “Jack” Simpson, a stretcher-bearer, who found a donkey upon arrival at Gallipoli

Image courtesy of WIKI commons

and used the little creature to carry wounded soldiers from the front lines back to the beach for evacuation. He worked night and day, dodging bullets and shrapnel to rescue approximately 200 soldiers before he died, killed by machine gun fire, three weeks after landing.

He was 22.

His gravestone reads: He gave his life that others may live

The traditional reading for Anzac Day is The Ode from the poem For the Fallen by Laurence Binyon.

 

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.

 

 

Lest We Forget