The meaning behind Anzac Day

Press, 24 April 1979, Page 18

The meaning behind Anzac Day

Everyone will have a holiday tomorrow for Anzac Day. Although it is just another day away from school work for a lot of people, for some it is a day when they remember relatives or friends who lost their lives in all the wars in which New Zealand has sent troops to help Britain and her other allies. No-one these days

wants to glorify wars, otto say that they are necessary, but the New Zealand young men and women who went away to fight on the land, in the air, and at sea in many parts of the world believed that what they were doing was their duty to their country. Those who did not return are honoured on Anzac Day. The word “Anzac” is an abbreviation of the “Australian and New Zealand Army Corps” and was adopted by Field-Marshal Birdwood as the name of his body of Australians and New Zealanders who came under his command

in Palestine (a country now called Israel) late in 1914, the year in which the First" World War broke out.

The corps landed on the Agean Sea shores of Turkey on April 25, 1915. It was a disastrous expedition because more than 2700 New Zealand soldiers were killed and 4700 wounded.

The campaign was a failure, but it became a symbol of New Zealand’s losses at war, and the observance of Anzac Day was widened to include all those who lost their lives in wars dating from the South African War at the beginning of this century up to the present day. The first Anzac Day memorial service was held in New Zealand in 1916, and for many years the day was given more solemn observance than Good Friday. Everything shut down for the day — all businesses and hotels — and no sports were allowed, not even entertainments unless they were evening concerts given in aid of returned servicemen’s charities. From 1916 the Government had laid down that the word Anzac was not to be used in connection with any trade or business.

Between the two World Wars there used to be military parades on Anzac Day. Regular soldiers, although we did not have manv of them, used to parade, along with the part-time soldiers who were called Territorials, secondary school boys who used to be in cadet corps and have uniforms like soldiers, and hundreds of returned soldiers and other servicemen wearing their medals on their ordinary clothes.

After the Second World War of 1939-45 there were many moves to have Anzac Day observed as less of a “holy” day. NewZealand and Australian servicemen have always exchanged Anzac Day visits, and the New Zealanders who went to the Australian cities were impressed w’ith what they saw’ there. Most places had a dawn parade and a memorial service, and then at midday sports and race meetings were held, hotels opened, and many old soldiers held reunions.

Cinemas and other entertainment were allowed.

It was not until 13 vears ago that Parliament changed the form of Anzac Day. It was then decided that up to I p.m. April 25 would be observed as a Sunday. After that the activities and entertainment normally allowed on a Saturday could take place. Since then there has been a greater interest in services that begin at dawn. Many young people and children have gone to dawn services with their parents and grandparents before enjoying sports and entertainment in the afternoon and evening. It is no longer a gloomy day, but one which begins with remembering the men and women who lost their lives while the country was at war, and carries on as a day when people are free to do those things they want to, which, after all, was what those who did not return from wars wanted for the generations of New Zealanders who were to follow them.

The 1915 enmity of Gallipoli has been forgotten, and Turks and New Zealanders have exchanged Anzac Day visits, but wherever in the world today there are Australians and New 7 Zealanders, Anzac Day will be observed. Although Gallipoli was a military disaster, the campaign showed that the New Zealanders and Australians. who in those days were ■ regarded as coming from the “Colonies,” had as much hardihood as any troops in the world. Before Anzac Day there is always Poppy Day. Artificial poppies are sold to help the Returned Services* Association assist disabled and needy members. The poppy came to be a symbol of soldiers killed in battle, because this flower grew in the fields of Flanders, the Belgian battlefield where many British and Allied soldiers were killed in the First World War with the Germans. An English poet, John Mcßae, wrote: Take up your quarrel with the foe: To you whose falling hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who died, We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields. So, in these days when New Zealand is at peace,

there are still many people who hold Anzac Day as a solemn occasion. When we bought our poppies we were helping those who helped us many Fears ego to live in peace.