[SIZE=+3]A[/SIZE]ND THE BAND PLAYED WALTZING MATILDA When I was a young man I carried my pack And I lived the free life of a rover From the Murrays green basin to the dusty outback I waltzed my Matilda all over Then in nineteen fifteen my country said Son It's time to stop rambling 'cause there's work to be done So they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun And they sent me away to the war And the band played Waltzing Matilda As we sailed away from the quay And amidst all the tears and the shouts and the cheers We sailed off to Gallipoli How well I remember that terrible day How the blood stained the sand and the water And how in that hell that they called Suvla Bay We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter Johnny Turk he was ready, he primed himself well He chased us with bullets, he rained us with shells And in five minutes flat he'd blown us all to hell Nearly blew us right back to Australia But the band played Waltzing Matilda As we stopped to bury our slain We buried ours and the Turks buried theirs Then we started all over again Now those that were left, well we tried to survive In a mad world of blood, death and fire And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive But around me the corpses piled higher Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over tit And when I woke up in my hospital bed And saw what it had done, I wished I was dead Never knew there were worse things than dying For no more I'll go waltzing Matilda All around the green bush far and near For to hump tent and pegs, a man needs two legs No more waltzing Matilda for me So they collected the cripples, the wounded, the maimed And they shipped us back home to Australia The armless, the legless, the blind, the insane Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay I looked at the place where my legs used to be And thank Christ there was nobody waiting for me To grieve and to mourn and to pity And the band played Waltzing Matilda As they carried us down the gangway But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared Then turned all their faces away And now every April I sit on my porch And I watch the parade pass before me And I watch my old comrades, how proudly they march Reliving old dreams of past glory And the old men march slowly, all bent, stiff and sore The forgotten heroes from a forgotten war And the young people ask, "What are they marching for?" And I ask myself the same question And the band plays Waltzing Matilda And the old men answer to the call But year after year their numbers get fewer Some day no one will march there at all (Pretty intense, but sums WW1 and Gallipoli up pretty well. Fortunately they do keep marching, even though there are no WW1 vets left alive. The children, grandchildren and great grandchildren are taking up the old medals and marching with them on their chests in pride.) LEST WE FORGET. Glen.
Here in Italy at the moment,but will remember.It is actually a special day here too. April 25th they celebrate the liberation of Italy. Paul
Well said Rat! I recently have been doing research on my grandfathers WW1 middle east journey & have found an absolute goldmine of info on the Australian War Memorial website! I have even found copys of his enrolment papers signed by his parents. Anybody can access this info of there relatives! Spend the time to take a look its worth it!....
To all of our friends, mates and fellow defenders of freedom in Australia and New Zealand, I say a great big THANK YOU for your sacrifices. Many times you have stood alongside we Yanks, to free oppressed people from dictators and others who would enslave them. We remember your help and dedication. We remember with you on your Rememberance Day. Phil USAF 1971-1975
This mornings Dawn service here in Whangarei was great.....the threatening heavy rain stayed away right through and has only started now! Many people there and many uniformed community groups there to remember this special day. Not as many returned servicemen as in the past but great to see many many young people participating. Thoughts today are with the families of the fallen and returned service men. Some interesting figures I heard this morning. Including WW1,WW2,Vietnam,Afganistan,Borneo etc from a population of under 4 million we have had 250 thousand people serve in conflicts overseas.....with losses of over 30 thousand as a Nation and over 400 from my home town! Not a bad commitment from a nation fighting for other peoples causes.
I own a property a bit north of you at Mangonui, and down the road is a little monument to a local ,Flying Officer lloyd Trigg,who won the VC in WW2 . close to where ,Years ago they held a Maori battalion reunion which I attended on behalf. Most of the participants have gone now but the contribution made by Kiwis as ANZACs tends to get overlooked to often,as does the contribution of soldiers who fought along side ours who came from Nepal,India,Canada and all sorts of places no longer on maps today.
My great grandfather was an anzac,he fought for Australia at gallipoli and was in egypt.He was of greek decent and while sitting in a bar in egypt,waiting to be shipped to the front lines,he struck up a conversation with a greek soldier sitting next to him,for hours they talked the greek soldier asked where he was from ,he said melbourne ,australia.The soldier said he thinks some of his family may live there after the turks kicked them out.My great grandfather asked what his last name was the soldier said Kosopodiotis,my great grandfather said his last name was Kosopodiotis,the soldier asked his first name,my great grandfather said arthur....in short it was my great grandfathers brother all this time,world war one united them by accident,the soldier moved to australia and they never separated until my great grand father died of mustard gas poisoning suffered in the trenches....LEST WE FORGET.
Here is my "Thank you" to a special group of brave people who have never turned their backs on their friends and who have never shirked their duty of upholding the tradition freedom and free people. Here's to you mates...
Incredible story Hombres - I myself am of Greek origin speak the language fluently and have travelled there many times. My folks emigrated to Melbourne in the mid 50s. Question is - how did you end up in San Diego hehe ? Melbourne as a City has the distinction of having the 3rd largest Greek population outside of Athens and Salonika, amazing when you consider where Australia is and thta it is a non Greek city. My Gramps used to say - you could go to the Sahara and discover a group of Bedouins and you'd find a Greek amongst them haha. Kosopodiotis - should be easy to find that name here in Melb if it exists. Rat
LEST WE FORGET Today is especially poiniant as we remember past generations that fought to make our country what it is today ! Personally my grandfather survived Gallipoli & the MIddle East in WW1 and an uncle that successfully completed 33 missions over Germany flying Lancaster bombers in WW2 , now a nephew is about to be deployed to Afganistan. I hope he comes home just as his 2 ancesters did.
ratbastard,it is an incredible story.My father still has my great grandfathers discharge papers signed by the king of england framed on the wall of his house.I moved to the U.S 7 yrs ago,i moved because of the cars,the culture and my job.all my family still live there.i will be down your way in december.maybe we could get together for a drink?
Thanks for posting as you do every year. My wife and I visited ANZAC cove when we were in Turkey. I'm not a spiritual person, but I have only felt that connected a few times in my life. indeed... Lest we forget.
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