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"They went with songs to the battle; they were young, straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow. They were staunch to the end against odds uncontested; they fell with their faces to the foe.
They shall grow not 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."
April 25th 2007 saw us wake to the dawn of a beautiful Autumn morning on the shores of Anzac cove, Gallipoli (Gelibolu to the locals) for the 92nd Anniversary of the Landing of the Anzac troops. The night was brisk, with limited sleep but the dawn service was one not to be forgotten.
From the entrance of the colourfold party (funky Greece lightning moves in toe!), the addresses from the emotional Brendan Nelson (minister of defence), the tear jerking playing of all Aussie, NZ and Turkish national anthems, to the haunting bugle of the last post, the service was amazing. Add to this the sunlight gently filtering over the land so that we could all feel the awesome responsibility and shock of the troops some 92yrs ago at the challenging terrain they were about to endure. Most of the audience camping out were only young, so to hear of the stories of some of our ANZAC and Turkish troops throughout the night made us each (being about their age or not much older) a little uneasy and conveyed the atrocities of war to us all.
After the dawn service we made it up to Lone Pine Cemetery for the Australian service, then on to Chunuk Bair for the New Zealand ceremony. Every time the Aussie anthem was played a few tears jerked from places unknown. But we were all patriotic and so very proud to be there representing our families, home towns and country. The only draw back to the day was when every Girl Guide and Boy Scout in Turkey walked through the centre of the New Zealand service with their Turkish flags flying high and chatting the whole time! I was furious; you can only imagine the expressions of the New Zealanders around us! To their credit, they did stop at one stage in the ceremony- for the playing of the Turkish anthem! Big controversy!
The rest of the tour of Turkey was amazing. It's really a beautiful country with amazing people, and I only saw such a small part of it. I made good friends with some of the guys from our tour company so I spent my remaining few days in Istanbul with my own personal guide! We saw so much of Istanbul beyond what the original tour had taken us too. I visited the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, the Hippodrome, Maiden tower, Galata tower, and many other sites around the beautiful city. Also as can be seen from the pictures there was lots of drinking involved too! Lined up a few Raki's (Raki is local drink- imagine watered down sambuca, but bigger!) and tried a heap of Turkish delight also! Thankfully I escaped this trip without another Turkish rug to add to the floor at home, maybe next trip! ha ha
We saw so much, met so many new friends and shared some further bonding between the Turkish, Aussie and New Zealand camps! (My NZ mate and I bonded when she lent me her heat pack through the cold night! Bless her cotton socks!) All in all a wonderful experience and one I would really recommend to anyone out there thinking of going to ANZAC day there in the future. It's certianly up there the with some of the most meaningful journeys I've ever taken.
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