tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11906042.post7424014778869053235..comments2024-03-29T10:51:27.752+13:00Comments on Not PC: Q: But what were the ANZACs fighting *for*, Grandad?Peter Cresswellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10699845031503699181noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11906042.post-6483521968119689542016-04-27T10:02:54.771+12:002016-04-27T10:02:54.771+12:00Indeed. Just to be clear: that's not one of my...Indeed. Just to be clear: that's not one of my issues.Peter Cresswellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10699845031503699181noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11906042.post-86024726680739128372016-04-27T05:06:53.995+12:002016-04-27T05:06:53.995+12:00If the stats on Wikipedia are to be believed, it&#...If the stats on Wikipedia are to be believed, it's a myth that the Gallipoli campaign was fought predominantly with Australians and NZ'ers. The British had about 4 times the soldiers/casualties as the Anzacs combined, and the even the French had slightly more. It fits the narrative that Churchill was blasé about the fate of colonial troops, but it doesn't seem supported by the facts. MarkThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06199883270652041621noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11906042.post-23655379607169707582016-04-26T11:37:26.738+12:002016-04-26T11:37:26.738+12:00In fact Churchill did not "serve out the war ...In fact Churchill did not "serve out the war on the Western Front." He spent six months there dong his very public purdah. And his resignation was not voluntary: it was essentially forced upon him. And he only resigned from Cabinet, not as an MP.<br /><br />In any case, after he judged he had earned back sufficient popularity to be allowed back he requested (and was granted) to be allowed “to attend to my Parliamentary & public duties which have become urgent.” He was in Cabinet virtually upon his return, where he helped to draw up the maps of the Middle East that promised the same pieces of land to up to three different peoples, helping cause many of the Middle-Eastern problems that are still with us today.<br />Peter Cresswellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10699845031503699181noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11906042.post-62467606464379324012016-04-25T20:01:48.365+12:002016-04-25T20:01:48.365+12:00I'll give Churchill his dues - bloke resigned ...I'll give Churchill his dues - bloke resigned his post and served out the war on the western front. Apart from that, What's A Few Men???<br /><br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAJPFt88GYY<br /><br />And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda<br /><br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E22gszljklc<br /><br />Now when I was a young man, I carried me pack, and I lived the free life of a rover<br /> From the Murray’s green basin to the dusty outback, well, I waltzed my Matilda all over.<br /> Then in 1915, my country said son, It’s time you stopped rambling, there’s work to be done.<br /> So they gave me a tin hat, and they gave me a gun, and they marched me away to the war.<br /><br />And the band played Waltzing Matilda, as the ship pulled away from the quay<br /> And amidst all the cheers, the flag-waving and tears, we sailed off for Gallipoli<br /> And how well I remember that terrible day, how our blood stained the sand and the water<br /> And of how in that hell that they called Suvla Bay, we were butchered like lambs at the slaughter.<br /> Johnny Turk he was waiting, he’d primed himself well. He shower’d us with bullets,<br /> And he rained us with shell. And in five minutes flat, he’d blown us all to hell<br /> Nearly blew us right back to Australia.<br /><br />But the band played Waltzing Matilda, when we stopped to bury our slain.<br /> We buried ours, and the Turks buried theirs, then we started all over again.<br /> And those that were left, well we tried to survive, in that mad world of blood, death and fire<br /> And for ten weary weeks, I kept myself alive, though around me the corpses piled higher<br /> Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head, and when I woke up in my hospital bed,<br /> And saw what it had done, well I wished I was dead. Never knew there was worse things than dyin’.<br /><br />For I’ll go no more waltzing Matilda, all around the green bush far and free<br /> To hump tent and pegs, a man needs both legs-no more waltzing Matilda for me.<br /><br />So they gathered the crippled, the wounded, the maimed, and they shipped us back home to Australia.<br /> The legless, the armless, the blind, the insane, those proud wounded heroes of Suvla<br /> And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay, I looked at the place where me legs used to be.<br /> And thanked Christ there was nobody waiting for me, to grieve, to mourn, and to pity.<br /><br />But the band played Waltzing Matilda, as they carried us down the gangway.<br /> But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared, then they turned all their faces away<br /> And so now every April, I sit on me porch, and I watch the parades pass before me.<br /> And I see my old comrades, how proudly they march, reviving old dreams of past glories<br /> And the old men march slowly, old bones stiff and sore. They’re tired old heroes from a forgotten war<br /> And the young people ask, what are they marching for? And I ask myself the same question.<br />Jamienoreply@blogger.com