Internationally award-winning poet and writer
Age shall not weary them...
ANZAC Day commemoration 2014
A report by Anne Casey, 25 April 2014 - Originally published as Australia Correspondent to ftvpmac.com and Sally Cronin's "Sunday Show" on UK radio station, Express FM 93.7 :
Tens of thousands of people will take to the streets across Australia at dawn today to mark the 99th anniversary of Gallipoli. They will unite in a solemn display of respect for the ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) soldiers who fought in the World War I conflicts on the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey in 1915.
Those gathering at dawn services in cities and towns across the antipodean nation will also pay their respects to all Australians who have served and died in wars, conflicts and peace-keeping operations around the world.
In informal gatherings throughout the day, Australians will commemorate the inimitable ANZAC fighting spirit by engaging in time-honoured traditions reminiscent of the fallen soldiers’ last activities. These include: eating ANZAC (oatmeal) biscuits, drinking ‘gunfire breakfast’ (coffee with a dash of rum) and playing ‘two-up’ (a gambling game played with two coins).
The formal rites of ANZAC Day today include: wearing poppy flowers in the lapel and laying poppy wreaths for remembrance; playing ‘The Last Post’; observing a minute’s silence and reciting ‘The Ode’ (the fourth verse of the poem ‘The Fallen’ by Laurence Binyon):
“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.”