100 Years of Anzac 25th April 2015

[AusPhotography]

Today Australia and New Zealand remember their fallen and veterans.
It is 100 years since the start of the Gallipoli campaign. http://www.army.gov.au/Our-history/H.../WWI-Gallipoli

I'm speaking at our Church tomorrow... These are my notes...


25th April ? ANZAC Day ? Lest We Forget

We remember the sacrifices of those who died. We remember those who were injured. We remember those who lost loved ones.

?Greater Love has no man than he lay down his life for his friend? ? Jesus (John 15:13)

We remember those people, mainly women, who had to devote so many years of their lives, after wars were over, to looking after relatives and friends whose wartime experiences left them permanently sick, disabled, or psychologically damaged or disturbed. The suffering and the cost of war to individual men and women can never be reversed, and it must never be forgotten.

ANZAC Day is the anniversary of the first major action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the 1914-1918 war. Soldiers of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps landed at Gallipoli on 25th April 1915. They were part of a much larger Anglo-French force.

In all, around half a million soldiers and sailors, mainly British, Indian, French, Senegalese, Australian and New Zealanders, were committed to the attack. They met brave resistance from about the same number of Turkish soldiers - around half a million - who were defending their peninsula.

The allies' campaign dragged on for eight months, and failed. At the end of 1915, they were evacuated. The casualties were enormous. Around quarter of a million members of the attacking forces were killed, injured or died of sickness or disease, and there were at least as many casualties on the Turkish side.

The first anniversary of ANZAC Day, in 1916, was marked by a wide variety of ceremonies and services in Australia and New Zealand. In London, over 2000 New Zealand and Australian troops marched through the streets, where they were hailed as "the knights of Gallipoli". For the remaining years of the 1914-18 war ANZACs marched on the 25th of April in London.

The ANZAC legend was born. It was not on the basis of a great strategic achievement, but because of the way the troops performed. They faced small chance of success, forbidding terrain, and constant fire from well established defences. They were surrounded by death. They were short of water and food. They lived in the most primitive conditions. They displayed phenomenal endurance, discipline and courage. This was not about politics but ?looking out for your mates?.

With the coming of the Second World War, ANZAC Day became a day on which to commemorate the lives of Australians and New Zealanders lost in that war as well. Now, the meaning of the day has been broadened to include Australians and New Zealanders killed in all overseas military operations.

Aussies have recently and are serving in Afghanistan, East Timor, Solomons and Iraq, we will pray for them today.

ANZAC day is a day when we remember and commemorate our hero's, our fallen freedom fighters. We pay tribute to their efforts and bravery. A day when we, as Australians, thank our diggers for fighting for our rights (including that of free worship), our freedoms, but most importantly, for fighting to protect this great nation, our nation Australia. As the ode states, the legacy of the ANZAC's will not grow old, nor will be forgotten. As Australian's, it is our duty not to forget.

Our efforts to remember may not seem much, but it is valuable to reflect on the practical issues that confront us daily, where you and I could contribute to a better Australia.
For example:
? Do we respect our community and our nation?
? Do we attend Church, preach the Gospel, bring God?s good news to our Nation?
? Do we work, not just for money, but to contribute?
? Do we behave as leaders for our youth?
? Are we servants?

Please stand.

They shall not grow old,
As we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them,
Nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun,
And in the morning,
We will remember them.

Lest we forget.




Their Sacrifice. Our Heritage.

25th April ? ANZAC Day

Kym

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Pictures from the Anzac march this morning..
https://www.facebook.com/kym.farnik/...3453623&type=3