SYDNEY: Thousands gathered across Australia and New Zealand today at Anzac Day dawn services to commemorate those who fought and died in conflict and to mark major anniversaries of the end of Australia’s involvement in the Korean and Vietnam wars.
The public holiday in New Zealand and Australia commemorates the Gallipoli campaign in Turkiye during World War One.
On April 25, 1915, thousands of troops from the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (Anzac) were among a larger Allied force that landed on the narrow beaches of the Gallipoli peninsula, an ill-fated campaign that would claim more than 130,000 lives.
The Gallipoli campaign against the Turks failed, but the landing date has become a major day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand honouring troops from all conflicts.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese lead an Anzac Day dawn service in capital Canberra and acknowledged the Indigenous people who had “donned the khaki (and) fought harder for Australia than Australia was sometimes willing to fight for them.”
Hours later, thousands lined Sydney streets, clapping as veterans and family marched and a fighter jet roared over.
In Gallipoli, more than 1,600 Australians attended a dawn service, the largest number since the centenary in 2015, Veterans Affairs minister Matt Keogh told ABC radio.
Some ceremonies also marked milestone anniversaries for the end of Australia’s involvement in the Korean and Vietnam wars, where roughly 78,000 troops served and 863 lost their lives.
Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins attended his local dawn service near the capital Wellingon.
Hipkins spoke about his grandfathers’ experiences in World War 2. One served as a signalman in the Air Force, another in Italy, Greece and Japan.
“I think about all of the people who have at various points sacrificed for New Zealand and for our freedom,” he told RNZ radio. — Reuters
