Anzac Day
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If you're looking for a good Anzac Day doco this is one of my favourites.
If you watch the doco this guy features strongly , he did an am zing job under the circumstances
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/4140258/NZ-war-hero-Morrie-Stanley-dies
HIs competence saved Delta Company. It's impossible to overstate the importance of close fire support in keeping the 6RAR boys alive.
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If you watch the doco this guy features strongly , he did an am zing job under the circumstances
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/4140258/NZ-war-hero-Morrie-Stanley-dies
There is a book or two about the Battle of Long Tan and the Kiwis feature.
Pissing rain, shit conditions, RPGs going off everywhere and a fuckload of confusion. Want to have your calculations just right for that.
Yeah, the part where he tells the artillery to drop their shells just in front of him and they refuse because its too close and he replies "its simple if you don't we'll all be dead in 10 minutes".
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It needed to be brought to her attention...
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My first ANZAC day overseas and me and a kiwi colleague went to the service at Hellfire Pass in Kanchanburi. Some of the toughest sections of the infamous death railway were cut through sheer rock there.
Incredible service. You walk down through the pass with only flame torches lighting the way. There werent many kiwis there but was packed with aussies. They lost something like 13000 POWs building the railway, doing 15 - 18 hour days of physical labour while dodging beatings from the Japanese and suffering illness.
They had two old diggers who were 100 and 95 there as guests of honour. They were both POWs in the area during the war. I swear someone was cutting onions next to me when the old boys laid their wreath.
As an aside, i saw those anti war protesters on the news. I don't think the kid came across that great, but i reckon there would be a niche for a hero in a cape and mask to turn up and thump pricks like this. I would chip in for legal fees. There is also case law relating to burning flags at ANZAC ceremonies that suggests they cant be charged with offensive or disorderly behaviour unless someone is sufficiently offended so this yet-to-be hero would be doing the police a favour...
I wholeheartedly support the right to protest, but doing it at an ANZAC service just make you a fluffybunny, IMHO. If i turned up to their vegan meetings and started cooking a lamb on a spit, I'm sure they'd all have a cry.
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@aucklandwarlord said in Anzac Day:
I wholeheartedly support the right to protest, but doing it at an ANZAC service just make you a fluffybunny, IMHO. If i turned up to their vegan meetings and started cooking a lamb on a spit, I'm sure they'd all have a cry.
Yep, sure does. Free to protest, but free to be labelled a loser by everyone else. That's freedom, folks. Freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from criticism.
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@antipodean said in Anzac Day:
It needed to be brought to her attention...
Never heard of this fool before but a google search reveals she said on tv that "Islam is the most feminist religion ".
Those words coming to a Tui billboard near you. -
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=12038505
Wilding, Gallagher, NZ lost many great sportsmen to the WWs
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I have been fortunate to have not lost any family directly to war participation but out of respect for those that have I always make the effort to attend dawn service.
I stand there happily letting the religious aspects and prayers pass by but fuck me, I still get surprised when I choke up at the ode.
Have to hand out kudos to the London Maori group as well. The waiata and haka this morning made a bit of dust blow into the eyes. -
Bringing up the old thread as another year rolls around.
Finally getting around to doing some Western Front visiting this year. In Ieper for the weekend combining battle site and war grave visits with watching a few cobbled sections of the Paris-Roubaix on Sunday.
Attended the last post at Menin Gate earlier tonight. Amazing how the Belgians still recognise the sacrifices as part of daily events. Most of Europe kind of pretends nothing happened. -
Bringing up the old thread as another year rolls around.
Finally getting around to doing some Western Front visiting this year. In Ieper for the weekend combining battle site and war grave visits with watching a few cobbled sections of the Paris-Roubaix on Sunday.
Attended the last post at Menin Gate earlier tonight. Amazing how the Belgians still recognise the sacrifices as part of daily events. Most of Europe kind of pretends nothing happened.Those out in the French countryside haven't forgotten, if my tour of Amiens was any indication
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It’s not surprising but bitterly disappointing that the Chch Terror Attacks are going to have such a profound impact on ANZAC Day this year.
I assume the issue is Police resources but TBH the only time I’ve seen a copper in decades of attending ANZAC Day commemorations is when they’ve been the band.
Normally I have a choice of a 15 minute walk in one direction for a large ish traditional ceremony or 15 mins in the opposite for a slightly smaller but more community event complete with Tongan Oom-pah band and choir.
This year it looks like 4 or 5 ceremonies across the entire Shore if current reports are accurate.
I’m a paid up life member of the cowards club but I’m more than happy to risk a copy cat or reprisal attack to maintain our Kiwi culture
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@Crucial briefly, if you like mate, but what do the battle fields look like now? Still a landscape where you can see what happened and where etc?
Is there a "feeling " that something full on happened there?Sure, I’ll let you know. The wife is taking me around as she has been on some official trips and taken to some cool spots. The craters from those massive underground mines are apparently impressive.
My comment about other places and the past was a bit offhand. There are certainly other places where memories run deep and actions appreciated. It is more the institutional feel and attitude I was picking up on.
Looking forward to Les Quesnoy tomorrow. -
@Crucial briefly, if you like mate, but what do the battle fields look like now? Still a landscape where you can see what happened and where etc?
Is there a "feeling " that something full on happened there?I hope you don't mind me butting in mate, when I was on the Somme fields 2 years ago and went on an amazing tour from a local guide who was a British ex-military. There were still signs of conflict, pillboxes and most notably a giant grassed in crater that royal engineers had blown up when it was on the front in WW1. I stood on the field made famous in the warhorse movie, and spent a very emotional time walking at the NZ cemetery at Caterpillar Valley. I also went to Normandy but felt the Somme on a much more personal level. I'd highly recommend you do it if you can
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If you are still in Ieper, the grave of Dave Gallaher in Nine Elms cemetery near Poperinge is well-worth the visit, as are Tyne Cot Cemetery and the National Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917 near Zonnebeke.
If you are travelling into France, Beaumont Hamel, the Thiepval Memorial, Wellington Quarry near Arras, Le Memorial de Verdun and the vast Douaumont ossurary and cemetery near Verdun are all very poignant.
