Anzac Day

Well me and three of the kiddies went to our very first Dawn service! So at a very early 3.30am I started to rouse up the little ones, Sarah and Harrison got up real easy but I had to work extra hard to get the sleepie head Jacko to his feet. But once dressed and in the van covered with their quilts and beanies their faces started to brighten up.


We got to Kings Park at about 4.20am and grabbed a beaut spot just off to the side, at the park they had about ten big screens set up with movies of the wars on and the kiddies sat back and watched them, it was a real beaut set up believe me mates. After awhile the service started and they showed it all on the big screens so we didn't miss a thing, and bit by bit the sun started to raise and then they had a few old tiger moths do a fly by. Then a fly by with an old war plane and the saying of 'The Ode' and the 'The last Post' and that was it. To be fairdinkum to ya I reckon it's not only my responsibility by just about every Parent to encourage their kiddies to be involved in Anzac Day, and to know all about the Anzac spirit!

As you can see it got a little nippy, well okay it was friggin' cool but it's for only one morning and they survived. And look on the bright side, we don't live in Armidale! This was my very first dawn service and it was a beaut experience one i'll never forget and the kiddies just loved it.
And were does the origins of The Dawn Service come from... well the half-light of dawn plays tricks with the soldiers eyes and so it was the most favoured times for an attack. Soldiers in defensive positions were therefore woken up in the dark, before dawn, so that by the time the first dull grey light crept across the battlefield they were awake and alert. This was, and still is known as 'STAND-TO'. With symbolic links to the dawn landing at Gallipoli, a dawn stand-to or dawn ceremony became a common form of Anzac Day remembrance during the 1920s.



We then had a wonder down and got a photo of us and the Vietnam War Memorial , as you probably know yours truly was born during the Vietnam War. And so it's probably the one War that I can relate too and was also one of the saddest. The response that the soldiers received when they came home, was one that they did not deserved. But as they say 'That is War'.




Then it was back up to the flame of remembrance where we sat down and just took in our surroundings, which turned out to be a bit different then we expected. See as I took this photo I was just looking at the kiddies and hoping that Harrison didn't decided to take a morning dip. But as I grabbed the kiddies and started to walk away, two blokes in suits asked me if I could have a chat with them. It was two fellas from channel Ten News! Turn it up. If you look just behind the kiddies you will see they were filming the little nevilles being nice and quiet just sitting their thinking about the War and the old diggers...... okay they were probably thinking about breakfast at hungry Jacks but still give them a bit of credit. Anyway I had a short talk about how i'm just teaching them all about the diggers and how they should always remember the bravery and courage that these great soldiers showed......(while I was shitting myself, cameras do that sort of thing to ya) then they asked Sarah something and then Harrison which got a 'mmamamahaga' response, then they turned to Jacko and asked him 'did dad get you up this morning' .... 'Yes'. Then he asked him 'So what was it like being woken up..... and Jackos answer was .... 'HARD'. ha,ha,ha So that was our first and probably last time we will be on the TV News but at least we got their hay.


But it was a real beaut morning and well worth getting up for, trust me.
And as the saying go's...


At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

LEST WE FORGET