Chatterbox: Down to Earth

ANZAC Day

At dawn, on April the 25th, thousands of Australians and New Zealanders awake from their beds. We dress up nice and warm, and from the light of the moon, we travel towards the nearest dawn service. We sit and listen as speeches are made, cold mist evaporating from our lips and warm cocoa heating our frozen mouths. While munching on Anzac Biscuits, we sit with our backs tall and straight, listing to the "last post" peacefully blasting from the lips of the bugle player. The thousands of citizens, from young children, to the elderly, raise our voices and sing the national anthems of both Australia and New Zealand before closing our eyes and holding one minute of silence, silence for our brave soldiers who died in battle all those many years ago.

ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. Each year, we recognise dawn, April 25th as being the moment our soldiers first landed on the shores and began the bloody battle of Gallipoli. In the early days of the Dawn Service, the surviving soldiers would march through the cities, and nowadays former servicemen and women march in their place. 103 years ago, over 8,000 young Australians lost their lives, and thousands more were injured, blinded and insane. ANZAC day is a day we appreciate our soldier's sacrifice, and try to understand what they did us. 

When the Dawn Service is over, I will write a recount of what my family did.