Well, if you're proud to be an Australian and proud of our heritage, the 25th April commemorates ANZAC DAY. It's a time when all of our ex-servicemen/women who served in wars in which Australia participated in, including the Boer War, World War 1 and World War 2, Korea and Vietnam, come together to march to places of remembrance to remember those mates who died fighting for their country.
More over it's a time when they share the excitement, the sadness, the experiences of the past over a couple of beers with mates they probably haven't seen since the last Anzac Day.
More importantly for ME, it's a time of remembrance. You don't have to be a warmonger to take part in an Anzac Service or to remember the thousands of men and women who died all over the world to try and keep our way of life.
We owe it to those not with us now, to at least remember then on one day of the year .... April 25th.

Historically the 25th April represents the greatest blunder of military strategy and waste of life ever employed. In 1915 Australian and New Zealand troops landed in a small cove, ANZAC Cove. Their task was to engage the Turks, take Gallipoli Peninsula and open up the Dardanelles.
By doing this, it would make it possible for ships to pass up the Dardanelles to Istanbul (Constantinople in those days) and knock the Turks out of the war and allowing access to the Black Sea with all oil supplies to the Germans then being cut off.
It was good in theory, but the foul ups in the planning a logistical support proved it to be a fiasco.
The Turks knew of the planned attack and waited for the ANZAC's in trenches along the beach and steep cliff tops over looking the beach. The first major blunder was the miscalculation of the landing place - one mile out.
One report dated May 8, 1915 said, "The boats had almost reached the beach, when a party of Turks, entrenched ashore opened a terrible fussilade ..... The Australian's rose to the occasion. Not waiting for orders, or for the boats to reach the beach, they sprang into the sea, and, forming a sort of rough line, rushed at the enemy's trenches..... It was over in a minute. The Turks in the first trench were either bayoneted or they ran away ..... Then the Australians found themselves facing an almost perpendicular cliff of loose sandstone, covered with thick shrubbery. Somewhere, halfway up, the enemy had a second trench, strongly held, from which they poured a terrible fire on the troops below ....."
The ANZAC's made little progress and were restricted to the beach and lower portion of the cliffs. From April to December when the Gallipoli campaign ended in dismal failure, 5833 Australians were killed in action, 1985 died of wounds, 19441 were wounded, and 70 were taken prisoner, a total of 27329 battle casualties.
Some historians maintain that Australia became a nation as the people rallied behind the soldiers at the front. This was a blood sacrifice, needed to weld a nation together. But what a terrific price was paid for that.
An unnecessary blood sacrifice it was.

A Few Facts About The Gallipoli Campaign
Most of the casualties were caused when the troops landed.
When the ANZACS were evacuated, not one casualty was caused, and the whole force melted into the night.
Other troops to fight against the Turkish forces during the campaign included soldiers from Great Britain, France, India, Newfoundland, Algeria and Senegal.
The Australian Imperial Force won nine Victoria Crosses on Gallipoli.
Seven of these Victoria Crosses were won at Lone Pine during the fighting on 8/9th August.

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Even though the Gallipoli campaign was such a waste of life, effort and opportunities, there were moments of camaraderie, sadness, funny incidents, great stories and acts of heroism emanating from the period.
These have been portrayed in such great shows as Gallipoli, the Anzacs and many documentaries shown on TV, add to this songs like And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda and I Was Only Nineteen.

Let us all learn from it and make sure that those millions of people who have died for a politicians foley, haven't died in vain!

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