The Lucky Ones

My husband was a Signalman in the Australian Army for 22 years. He served as a Peacekeeper with the United Nations in East Timor but thankfully he never came under direct fire. He was lucky. My mother tells the story of how her father was unhappy because he was too young to serve in the First World War and too old for the second. With the benefit of hindsight, we know now he was lucky. This morning I talked with an elderly gentleman who was called up for National Service when he was just a lad. After training in Sydney and at Puckapunyal, his unit was ready to go to Vietnam but at the last minute their call to service was cancelled. He was one of the lucky ones too.

Today, in towns and cities across Australia and New Zealand, at Gallipoli and in France, we remembered those who weren’t so lucky as we commemorated the 100th anniversary of the ANZAC landing at Gallipoli in Turkey. The landing on 25 April, 1915 was the beginning of eight months of battle between the Allied Forces and Turkey. More than 44 000 allied soldiers and 80 000 Turks died. Those who attended the first ANZAC Day service in 1916 thought this was the Great War, the war to end all wars. Sadly, they were wrong and now, every ANZAC Day we remember not only those first brave Australian and New Zealand soldiers but all who have served to defend our country. Freedom is not free.

We will remember them.