ANZAC Day the 25th April - the importance of remembering

                                                                                                      Shutterstock

ANZAC Day falls on the 25th of April each year and now commemorates the service of Australians in many military conflicts across the world. The date originates from the landing of Australian and New Zealand troops on the coast of the Gallipoli peninsula on the morning of 25 April 1915 - the peninsula was fiercely defended by Ottoman Turkish forces and ultimately cost the lives of over 8,000 Australian service members before they were evacuated at the end of 1915.

At this time of continuing conflict in Eastern Europe, in the Middle East and simmering civil conflicts in other regions, the "Ode" printed below continues to resonate.

"For the Fallen"  by Laurence Binyon, published 21 September 1914, the fourth stanza of the poem - 

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 shall remember them.

Lest we forget.