h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Anzac armour - A87755296
Author: GregPius - U13648184

This actually happened. Few veterans made it through six years of warfare.
Strangely enough, my Dad's own step
brother was one such veteran. Two campaigns in the Middle East and the Kokada Trail are on his war record. Like many of these Anzac veterans, He never talked abouit his time at war. His story died with him and cannot be told by those left behind.

This is an excellent telling of a story, If you are interested I believe it could well be developed into a Front Page Edited Entry by expanding the topic into Australia and New Zealand's roles in the Second World War.

Just as your Uncle is no longer here to tell his story, there will come a time when no one remembers at all, except what we leave in our writings.

One question, you are writing on an international site. As an American I did a quick google search for "Anzac" and most hits referred to either World War I or soccer. A sentience or two explaining military organization "down under" might be helpful.


F S

Thanks for that response. Aussies and Kiwis do tend to forget that few people around the world know that ANZAC means the Australian and
New Zealand Army Corp. In the First World War, Australian troops
actually fought as Imperial Forces. They often had British officers
and were certainly under orders from British GHQ. In fact, the British Sea Lord, Winston Churchill, was the one who set up the Anzac legend. He sent thousands of Australian and New Zealand troops to Gallipoli (a small outpost in Turkey). It was a military disaster!
British troops suffered seventy percent casualties on the beach as they landed, because Churchill insisted they land during daylight hours.
It took twenty years for Churchill to live down that disaster. But there were no real ANZAC troops until the Second World War. At the battles of Tobruk, El Alamein(the second one) and Kokoda the mix of Australian and New Zealand fighting men were tested to the limit. Again in Vietnam, ANZAC forces saw Australian and New Zealand troops under their own commanders. That is the ANZAC legand today. Its sign is the "thumbs up" sign given by the ordinary soliders after their successful campaigns.

Greg
As FS says, you could use this as a basis for an Edited Guide article about the role of ANZAC troops in the Second World War. There are already articles on Gallipoli - A311068 and the ANZUS alliance - A5648998.

Or you could expand your Dad's story about the death of the sergeant as a more personal account of wartime experience.

MVP's right, of course: you could make a Guide Entry out of the ANZAC story.

But I appreciate this anecdote just as it is, too. Thanks for sharing it. A lot of times, people who weren't there (us) don't have a clue what it was like.

You are right Dmitri, This is a fine entry and belongs here. After reading it was was interested and wanted to do more research. Not only did I not find anything on H2G2 a quick search on the web yielded little as well, Anzac pointed to WWI and Anzac Bornio led to a soccer (football) club.

Not trying to steal your sources, only to hint for more.

F S

We find these holes in our knowledge as we go. (I just did a lot of h2g2 searching and figured out we don't have an entry on World War II? What gives?)

My Dad only had a brief campaign in WW2!
But his step-brother spent six years at war
sites in the Middle East and Papua New Guinea.
I researched his war record. It made me realize that
many soldiers had come home from years of war, but
were silent. Their eye witness accounts would have
been invaluable for future generations. The only
way we can know how hard it was for them,is by second hand
reports. My Dad said that veterans, like his step-
brother, came back as hard men. He said that you could
tell the hard men by the look in their eyes and their
silence. I never understood what he meant until I met
some Vietnam veterans at Singleton Army base. It was
1969 and I was a cadet. These men had just got back
from the jungles of Vietnam. They were training us to be jungle fighters.
They never spoke much, but their silent contempt
of our efforts spoke volumes to us cadets. These
men spoke of killing the enemy as if it was natural
thing and essential to our survival. On one training
exercise, they took us into a mock Viet Cong village.
We were left there to cope. As the leader of the
trainee squad, I went in with confidence. After all,
we were told that they were all villagers. I lasted two minutes,
before I stepped on to a mock land mine. Then I had to
stand still and watch the "villagers" lead my squad into
one deadly trap after another.
The debrief was even more embarrassing, if that could be possible.
The "villagers" turned out to be communist sympathizer.
They had weapons cunningly hidden in their huts. Our attempts
at "recon" had resulted in our squad being wiped out to a man.
But the veterans had one last surprise for us. The mock village
was under constant range of no less than two snipers. We effectively
did not have a chance.
Luck for us we never went to Vietnam. Those veterans probably
did another eighteen months in the jungles of Vietnam. They came
home to the derision of their people. Some were even spat on by
anti-war protesters. Imagine the horror of that after facing
death for years on end in the jungles of Vietnam. It took thirty
years before their nation gave them proper recognition, and praise,
for doing their duty. This was the most shameful episode of the Anzac history!
One of these veterans lived next door to me and he
came back a bitter man.
This is why a lot of Australians support our troops in Afghanistan, even
when we don't support the "war" in that country.
Its not the fault of the soldiers that their politicians are complete
"drop kicks". As Henry Lawson put it,
"All politicians are mugs!"
He certainly was talking about those politicians who send young men
off to war only to make themselves look tough.
Its not tough to get others to fight and die for your ego.
But it takes a hard person to go into a war zone and return
with their sanity. This is why Australians and Kiwis are proud
of the Anzac spirit. Long may it last.
"In the morning and at the end of the day, We will remember them!"

The poem 'For the Fallen', goes:

'They shall grow not 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 will remember them.'

Thanks. The use of such a poem should be reserved for
special occasions. I certainly would not use it in any
story. My Dad said that the playing of the last post
reminded him of those, whom he knew and served with, that
had not returned. We can only guess what it would be like
to see people we know die in front of our eyes. It has only
happened to me once! I watched, at the side of a hospital bed,
as my father breathed his last. The difference, for me, was that
my Dad was eight seven years old. I knew he was going to die.
The shock of war, for the combatants, occurs when their young
mates die in battle. Some never recover from such a horror.
Others are changed forever. A few learn to forget until
something recalls this suppressed memory. My Dad was one of
these lucky few. He only remembered his war experiences
when he heard the last post. Then the horror of it would flood
back and make him very sad.