Anzac Day: Lest we forget.
 

And once again we remember those who served and those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
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Course 96 Graduation. No. 15 SFTS Claresholm, Alberta, Canada.
Wednesday, May 3rd. 1944

My Late Father, 39814 Baum; RW, Front row, fifth from left.

Any fellow Ppruners recognise anyone?
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List of graduating Pilots

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And this was Mrs Pinky's Dad. Leading Seaman Krieg; Darcy Carl.
Served as the gun leader of a 'pom pom' crew on HMAS QuickMatch.

In an action off the French coast his gun took a direct hit from a shore based gun, possibly an 88mm.

Severely wounded, he was the sole survivor of his gun crew.

Lest we forget.

Thanks for sharing Pinky!:ok: I must scan my Grandads photo & put it up one day. Up on the wall, but times like this I think its good to put a human face on the diggers past.

Now, all I have to do is sort out the whinging F*@%#!s at my work who are moaning about the lack of a public holiday!:mad:

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At 19 years of age, my Father (on the right) was a wireless operator/air gunner (WAG) with 459 Squadron RAAF - The Desert Scorpians, on Hudsons, Venturas and Baltimores (below).

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Based in the Middle-East, mostly Egypt, 459 Sqaudron's operations ranged from anti-submarine and convoy escort patrols in the Mediterranean to low-level anti-shipping strikes and formation bombing raids.

Sir Bob Norman, the founder of Bush Pilots, was a pilot with 459 Sqdn.

Dr :8

This is a tribute I put together for my wife's great [great?] uncle...I had the priviledge to visit the battlefields at Galipoli where John Dellow died in the forward trenches of Chunuck Bair on the 8th August 1915, exactly 50 years to the day before I was born...he enlisted on my wife's birthdate 21st December but 55 years earlier in 1914...spooky!!

Unfortunately the "copyright police" have disabled the soundtrack that included (along with a commentary) the moving Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits.

In remembering the debt we owe to our forefathers (and Mothers) that went before us, let us also remember those currently doing their duty and in harms way wherever the ADF are at this time.:ok:

Disco Stu
ex Green Machine

Least we forget.

I would love it if anyone could post up some stories from the war time era's.
Every now and again we get old gents coming through work that were ex A/F. The tales of adventure and heroism of a by-gone era are amazing and inspiring.

Can anyone fill me in on the protocol with regards to ANZAC day, Im not a native and a few pointers would be nice. Did i read that the memorial service is at dawn? thanks

Lest we forget
 

As a Gen Xer, I'm sometimes disappointed at how little some of my generation appreciate just what was done by these men and women.

My grandfather served in the Navy (Both Australian & on service to the RAN in the UK) during the war and until the 70's, saw service in the Mediterranean, and more significantly, on the Arctic convoys in the final years of the war.

On his 90th birthday last year he finally started to speak about what happened in those years (he never did previously, even when my mum and her brothers asked about it). Now we are happy to know he will be on tv in a documentary and has spoken on record for over an hour about everything that he saw.

My grandmother was a WRAN and my great-grandfather served in France in WW1. Knowing this only makes me appreciate all the more what went on and for the first time I'm attending the dawn service. I'm only ashamed I haven't gone sooner. A visit to the AWM in Canberra is a must.

If you can't go in person, Australian War Memorial

I appreciate the sentiment of an RSL-sponsered ad on the radio tonight, where a young man says the thing that shocks him the most is not that those marching are old, but that at the time they went to war, they were his age, and if one of his mates was one of the people lost to war, he would expect people of his generation to give a moment's silence and respect.

Lest We Forget.

All my grandparents served in WW2, three in the army and one in the RAAF. My grandfather was in the 2/2 Pioneers. They were captured as POWs in SE Asia and shipped to Changi Jail, then to the Burma Railway and then onto the coal mines near Nagasaki, Japan. Somehow he made it back and raised a family. He is sadly no longer with us. I hope my 10 years service did him proud.

To those who have served, are serving or will do so in the future, you have the thanks of a grateful nation.

To those who don't come back....we will remeber them.

NFR.

Lest we forget

I am a defence spouse and very proud of my husband and his mates whether they're in the colours of the army; airforce or navy.

My former father in law (RIP Bobby) was carried down the Kakoda track and would never talk about what he heard and saw. Come Anzac Day he would retreat for a few days into a dark place.

God forbid I may ever know the grief of losing anyone in some god forsaken hell hole.

Lest we forget.

My Great Grandfathers both served in WWI with the British Army and Royal Navy. One, James, was deployed on the worlds first true aircraft carrier, HMS Argus. He served right to the end of WWII. My other Great Grandfather served at Ypres and never spoke of his experiences.
My Grandfather (son of James, also James) served with the Britsh Army in Egypt and my great Uncle served in Egypt and Cypress with the RAF. At least one member of every generation has served in either the Australian or British Military, Including my Mother in Iraq in 2002-3 with the RAN and myself (Gen Y) with the Army in East Timor.
I do not believe modern, volunteer, professional soldiering is a cause for praise or hero worship, however, For those who once fought to protect the sovereignty of this country and our close allies including those who were killed;
Lest we forget:(

Laurence Binyon quote
 

"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."

Keep it so.

RIP Dad.

Le Vieux

My thoughts on anzac day go to a good friend of mine who was killed during military service albeit not during war. He was working night shift at Edinburgh and at dawn they were pre-flighting the search and rescue Orion when he was killed when the tug he was driving collided with the aircraft. My thoughts are also with all those military people killed during training accidents etc. The military can be a dangerous place even when people aren't shooting!

RIP Fish

Harry,

Blessings on your father and his fellow soldiers that were captured at Singapore and suffered through hell in Burma, being torpedoed during transit, recaptured and finishing out the war as slave labor in Japan.

I will miss ANZAC day this year but will remember a moment of silence. For your dad and mine.

JR

Mrs Fairing is currently walking the Kokoda Track. She carries with her several small flags in honour of fallen friends. Her group will be holding a Dawn Service at Isurava and walking the final stage to Kokoda on ANZAC Day. Am I proud of her? You bet!

Go Maureen.

Edit: Dawn Service is at Isurava not Kokoda

Bless 'em all. Both my Grandfathers fought in WW2, and I'm ex-Air Force, having served with Aussies and Kiwis in NZ & Aust and many countries abroad. There's no better combination than the ANZAC's, unless we're the only ones around - then we fight amongst ourselves! Long may it continue. I'll spare a thought at dawn tomorrow.

Lest we Forget.
 

To the Airmen of the armed forces, of both Australia and New Zealand, to the young men who never came home, to the airmen who spent years in POW camps, to the young men who survived and forged a path to the Airlines of today, those that follow will always be in your debt. LEST WE FORGET.

Lest We Forget And Do It All Again

Hearty Amen to both of the above posts! :D

04:40 local, and off to dawn service now....Lest we forget