What does ANZAC Day mean to you?

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[Proud Pies]

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[Kingswood]

I remember in primary school once , the teacher asked the kids to each say a word or something they associate with anzacs day.

when it came to my turn i said pies vs bombers

he didn't appreciate that for some reason

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[Proud Pies]

[thompsoc]

Some truly thoughtful and wonderful posts here.
You would not think that such interesting and considered
responses would come up on a football blog site.
Lest we forget Nicks.

[John Wren]

[3rd degree]

[roar]

I have major respect for the diggers bravery but I wish more would remember the futility and stupidity of WWI, and how we were used as cannon fodder by the brits, who really had no love for us at all.

Disgraceful war that served no purpose but wiped out many lives and created geo-political problems that are still being felt today.

I'd like to see a return to the days when leaders actually lead on the battlefield - betcha there would be a lot less fighting.

[3rd degree]

[RudeBoy]

[Piesnchess]

[Born to Pie]

The "hype" people mention about Gallipoli isn't about the glorification of war but a failed campaign that has become a symbol of Australia's national identity.

A battle, a long way from home and a long time ago that nearly destroyed a generation of Australians and committed another generation to another war. A lot of men were killed or wounded.

It was a defeat and it didn't change anything. But we're still interested in it.

For Australia, Gallipoli has become an important founding legend. It is attracting even greater attention as the 100th anniversary approaches.

Australians entered the Great War welcoming conflict as a test of our nationhood. Our nation had been born amid debate and referenda, not in war. The troops who landed on April 25, 1915- almost all civilians less than a year before - wondered how they would meet the challenge

The landing was a military disaster - it failed to meet its objectives. But merely hanging on in the face of determined Turkish attacks was triumph enough.

Charles Bean, the Australian official correspondent, declared that with the landing on Gallipoli a sense of Australian nationhood was born. The idea took root.

Bean defined what came to be called the Anzac legend, it encompassed bravery, ingenuity, endurance and the comradeship that Australians call mateship.

Nations create the history they need. Gallipoli, though the basis of the annual ritual of Anzac Day from the early 1920s, remained neglected as an historical event. For 50 years after Bean published his definitive official history very few seemed interested in the Great War.

For a time, in the aftermath of defeat in Vietnam, it seemed that Anzac Day might vanish into obscurity, like Empire Day.

But an assertive Australian national identity has returned to affirm the connection between Gallipoli and nationhood. On the 100th anniversary of the campaign Gallipoli remains interesting still. The anniversary has generated books, films, ceremonies and pilgrimages. Almost as many Australians attend the dawn ceremony at Anzac Cove as the same number of troops which landed there in 1915.

The Anzac legend has become elastic enough to span very different emotions. Fervent nationalists can exult; pilgrims can mourn. All can ponder what made that group of Australians able to endure one of the greatest tests their nation has ever faced.

This massive interest might be the result of careful marketing, by schools, publishers, the media or government agencies. But it seems that while the expression of interest might be directed, the consumption of the products seem to reflect the popular interest rather than manipulate it.

Gallipoli, a minor, failed campaign (which cost less than a sixth of the Australian deaths on the Western Front) fulfils a need felt by many Australians to connect with or express their national identity. Much of what is said or written makes tenuous history - it presents a defeat as a victory of sorts, ignores some aspects and boost others, often with a distinctly anti-British spin.

It is dodgy history because it says as much about what Australians today feel about themselves as it relates to the events of the campaign. Gallipoli has become a symbol of Australia's national identity, achievement and existence.

(Extracts from an article written by Dr Peter Stanley for ABC News Online's Anzac Day coverage in 2006.)

I had two Great Uncles who landed at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915, both were wounded, Stanley was treated for his wounds by his brother Eric, who then ran off to continue the fighting, Stanley was never seen again.

I have had family in every conflict Australia has been involved in since, including all recent conflicts. I myself have served overseas.

ANZAC Day isn't about the glorification of war it's a celebration of mateship and nationhood. A nation that was looking for it's identity in 1915 and still is today.