On Remembrance Day (11 November) this year I was guest speaker at a Commemoration service. Today, two attendees have phoned me asking for a copy of what I said then given what is happening in Sydney today. So here it is as I read it then... What ANZAC Means To Me I have been asked to say a few words about what ANZAC means to me. Well I could talk about the historical context which I learned in my Australian history studies and in my Navy military history, referring to me from all walks of life, men who believed in egalitarianism and mateship. Men who worked hard but who preferred an easy day and not too much of saluting and “Sir –ing” to the Brits. I could talk about how the ANZAC spirit was not defined to the army but also very much in the Navy and, later, the RAAF and, of course, our valiant nurses. I could even talk about those nurses, who set up hospitals on the Greek island of Lemnos with absolutely NO help whatsoever from the English government. What you saw on the recent television show, well, do some reading as their story is even greater. Indeed, I could talk about the statue that the Lemnos Gallipoli Commemoration Committee, of which I am a member, will raise next year to honour these very same nurses and the diggers, as well as the people and island of Lemnos. And by the way, that was the place from whence Simpson began to use his donkeys. I could refer to my father who served and was wounded in Korea but who gets nothing from the any government re same and the MANY after every war who have served and who receive less than they deserve. I could refer to the aboriginal gentleman who purchased a poppy from me last year, who told me that his two sons were presently serving in the army, as he had before them in Iran Iraq and his father in WW2 and his father in WW1. How he felt that the aboriginal people have never been given the same level of support, care and attention when they came home. Yet they still serve. Indeed, I could refer to 7000 aborigines who tried to sign up in WW1 only to find racism blocking the vast majority, or how the ANZACs included men of Greek and Italian birth, amongst others. Nay, they were not all white Anglo Saxon protestant celts. Or I could talk about Commander Stan Veale and the two survivors of his crew whom I first met as a young sailor. Men who at the outbreak of WW1 were given 24 hours tpo ready to sail to New Guinea to capture a German communications unit. But men who were ready in under seven hours and who did not want to wait. How when I met them one of these eighty something year olds cried when he saw me. I was much slimmer then, dressed in a sailor’s rig and clean shaven. And as Commander Veale advised me quietly I reminded them of a mate who never made it back from that action. Yes heroes can cry and that does not make them any less a hero. But those brave men, long since gone, like the nurses of that era, like the men and nurses and support staff of every conflict since federation, like those serving today, had the true spirit of ANZAC within. Loyalty to our nation. A strong preference to live in peace and harmony with others. But an absolute resolve that if forced to defend that which we hold sacred, we Australians will not surrender, will not cower and will never give up. A character that is seen in the farmers who fight severe droughts and harsh fires. In those who stand up when there are floods and who rebuild in the same place. Who risk their lives to help neighbours in times of emergency. A resolve to live free. A resolve to survive. A resolve to never give up. That is my ANZAC and I believe that spirit is within all of us who call ourselves true Australians. And in these troubled times when terrorists would threaten peace and harmony I say that we welcome people of every race and religion, so long as they wish to shake our hands and live beside us on fair and equitable terms. But if not, that ANZAC spirit is there to be called on again. Ange Kenos Secretary Essendon RSL
Posted on: Mon, 15 Dec 2014 02:27:24 +0000
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