Anzac Dawn By CHERIE

It was a cold and long night as I (along with many others wrapped in a blanket to keep warm) sat upright on platform-seating and waited for the dawn of 25 April 2007 where we could join together and be part of the Anzac Cove Dawn Service. Many times during the evening's programme, I endeavoured to ignore the bright lights and look out into the darkness of the Cove and visualise the events that took place in the early morn of 25 April 1915. I had spent the previous day walking along the foreshore of Anzac Cove and had seen for myself just how little protection the soldiers had from the Turkish enemy when they landed. I wondered what thoughts had been going through their heads as they alighted, in a downpour of heavy rain, from the transport boats into the cold waters of the Channel; and then, as the sun rose, to be bombarded by an unrelenting hale of bullets from unknown directions. It must have been murderous bedlam. Locating basic dug-out trenches (which were supposedly to offer the soldiers some times of comfort) would prove a humbling opportunity to acknowledge the true meaning of 'endurance'. Whilst the Anzac Cove/Dardenelles campaign was sadly one that had gone down in history as a major military catastrophe, those soldiers who fought in the rugged surrounds had not suffered or died in vain. They had contributed to the freedom and good lifestyle that Australians experience today. Lest we forget.


in ANZAC COVE

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