RAAF Group Captain Stewart Dowrie delivered the following address at the Windsor Anzac Day dawn service on Saturday, April 25.
We stand together in the pre-dawn light in remembrance of a day 100 years ago that defined our nation, defined who we are as a people, and defined what we stand for.
As a senior member of the Australian Defence Force who draws his lineage of service from those original Anzacs, I feel humbled in being asked, and completely inadequate in trying, to convey their experience to you.
We can only imagine what was going through the minds of those young Australian and New Zealand soldiers as they stood ready to storm the beaches of the Gallipoli peninsula.
One hundred years later, there is a danger that their stories become shrouded in the passing of the generations and the warm glow of nationalistic nostalgia.
It becomes easy to push aside the pain, the horror and the tragedy of warfare, and to talk proudly about the heroes of Gallipoli.
There were heroes among them. Many unlikely heroes. Many young men, some of them boys, who dreamt of being part of a noble and romantic cause. But the story of Anzac is the story of everyday Australians, not heroes, sent to a distant land, keen to prove themselves.......only to encounter the most terrible and horrific of circumstances imaginable.
Let me tell you a little of the story in their words.
Private Harold Gordon Craig, 6th Battalion AIF, wrote the following in his diary about the lead up to the landing on Gallipoli:
‘‘Well we received a letter from Lord Kitchener telling us that we were going to do work that no soldiers had ever been asked to do before, and that it would go down in history and a lot more as to the colonials.
‘‘Told us that we would have a very hard time as we would land under fire. Never tumbled that it would be so bad’’.
Signaller Elias Sillas wrote the following words on 3 May, 1915, only eight days after the landing:
‘‘Dawn. Oh God, only 250 left of our battalion — there has been a ceaseless stream of wounded, many cases have died on the way down, until in most places the narrow pass is so cumbered with dead and badly wounded waiting for the stretchers that it is becoming impassable. Seeing those fine stalwart men going up the gully to reinforce and shortly returning, frightfully maimed and covered in blood — I don’t think I shall ever be able to forget this; it’s horrible. Will the stream of wounded never cease? It is now nearly midday and still they keep pouring down – marines, some of them mere boys, and New Zealanders are supporting us, but keep getting frightfully cut up. I am told to go and rest, which I do upon a hill held by the marines. I lie down in the sun for a bit, but sleep I cannot.’’
It was in this furnace of despair and misery that the Australian character was forged.
This is the true story of Anzac.
Countless tales of mates learning to rely on mates whether they knew them or not, of larrikins doing their best to make people smile in the darkest of times. It is the story of a young nation taking its place on the world stage.
One hundred years on, it is more important than ever to remind ourselves that Anzac Day is not about the glorification of war, it is a solemn reminder that war is the price we sometimes have to pay to live in a free and open society and that the price of our freedom is sometimes paid in the blood of those who serve.
From the beaches of Gallipoli and the battlefields of France in WWI, to the jungles of New Guinea, the deserts of Africa, the battles in the Coral Sea and in the skies over Europe in WWII, to conflicts in Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam, Somalia, Rwanda, East Timor, the Solomon Islands, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Across all Australian military campaigns, more than 1.8 million have enlisted to serve their country.
Of these, more than 102,000 have died as a result of their service, more than 225,000 wounded and more than 34,000 held as prisoners of war.
As a member of the professional leading edge 21st century military that is the Australian Defence Force of today, I contend that we have learned valuable lessons from the human tragedy of Gallipoli.
100 years later, how well do we, as a nation, live up to the legacyof the Anzacs? The Australian Imperial Force that fought at Gallipoli consisted of people from all over Australia, from those newly arrived as immigrants to the Indigenous Australians with 40,000 years of history in this land, people from the city, from the country, from all different walks of life.
One hundred years later, as a nation of ever-increasing diversity, we honour the memory of the Anzacs in reminding ourselves that helping each other out is the Australian way, we are all mates, and that you can never take things too seriously.
Life is too short and too precious.
We stand here together as the sun prepares to rise over the horizon to pay our respects to those who first taught us those lessons and those who paid the ultimate sacrifice in service to the nation.
One hundred years on we must ensure the Anzac legacy remains vibrant and alive in our words and deeds, and by continuing to commemorate this day that is integral to the history of our nation and who we are as a people.
Lest we forget.
