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Today is ANZAC Day in Australia and New Zealand, which is sort of the equivalent of Memorial Day in the states, except with fewer barbecues and more reverence. It commemorates the day in 1915 when the allies landed at Gallipoli on the Turkish coast in WWI, and were soundly defeated; However, the ANZACs (the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps), in the words of the Australian folk singer John Williamson, "in the end they showed the world the spirit of Australia".
The last Gallipoli veteran Alec Campbell died in May of 2002. I went back at some point to read his obituary in the Economist, and I remember thinking, what an ordinary and unassuming hero. History would never have remembered his individual bravery had it not been for the accident that he happened to be the last veteran of a military defeat which has permanently left its mark on the culture of Australia. I remember thinking that it made his ordinariness all the more extraordinary.
My personal connection with ANZAC day is with my grandfathers, both of whom served in World War II. My mother's father loaded bombs onto planes. My father's father fought in both the Pacific and Africa. I will never forget them.
The last Gallipoli veteran Alec Campbell died in May of 2002. I went back at some point to read his obituary in the Economist, and I remember thinking, what an ordinary and unassuming hero. History would never have remembered his individual bravery had it not been for the accident that he happened to be the last veteran of a military defeat which has permanently left its mark on the culture of Australia. I remember thinking that it made his ordinariness all the more extraordinary.
My personal connection with ANZAC day is with my grandfathers, both of whom served in World War II. My mother's father loaded bombs onto planes. My father's father fought in both the Pacific and Africa. I will never forget them.
