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| Down Under |
| April 25th: Anzac Day! |
| 2009-04-25 |
| Big turnout for Anzac Day marches Tens of thousands of people have lined the streets of Australian towns and cities to cheer on veterans and their families taking part in this year's Anzac Day march. Umbrellas decorated the parade ground at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra as war veterans and current servicemen and women marched past the Stone of Remembrance. |
| Posted by:Free Radical |
| #1 Let us not forget the great ANZAC battle of WW1 that is the genesis of ANZAC Day: "The Gallipoli campaign took place between April and December 1915 in an effort to take the Dardanelles from the Turkish Ottoman Empire (an ally of Germany and Austria) and thus force it out of the war. Some 60,000 Australians and 18,000 New Zealanders were part of a larger British force. Some 26,000 Australians and 7,571 New Zealanders were wounded; and 7,594 Australians and 2,431 NZs were killed. In numerical terms Gallipoli was a minor campaign but it took on considerable national and personal importance to the Australians and New Zealanders who fought there. The Gallipoli Campaign was New Zealand's introduction to the Great War. New Zealanders fought on the Peninsula from the day of the landings (April 25 1915) until the evacuation of 20 December 1915. The 25th April is the New Zealand equivalent of Armistice Day. It is marked throughout the country with Dawn Parades and other services. Shops are closed in the morning. It is a very important day to New Zealanders for a variety of reasons that have changed and transmuted over the years." |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2009-04-25 10:37 |