100 years on.  What have we learnt?  Who will be attending services tomorrow?

I am Anzac-ed out. As far as I'm concerned, Anzac Day has no more significance than any other day of war on which people were killed.

I am Anzac-ed out. As far as I'm concerned, Anzac Day has no more significance than any other day of war on which people were killed.

I think what we do is "celebrate" ANZAC day because of the major event of stupidity and death that occurred but the remembrance part of the day applies to all war vets in all conflicts that Australia is part of.

I am  in Paris preparing to travel to the Dawn Service at the Australian War memorial in Villers Bretonneux. My uncle who was killed on the Somme in 1916 is buried nearby. My mother was only 7 at the time.
I went to the Gallipoli Dawn Service in 2002. I try each year to be present at the Dawn Service in Martin Place. Once (2010) I attended the service in Dunedin but usually I combine Easter and Anzac in visiting relatives back in Sydney.  I think it is important to remember those who fought in the past even if I believe many of the wars were pointless. The soldiers did not understand that at the time. They did not have the investigative journalism (let alone the internet) that we have today.

I think what we do is "celebrate" ANZAC day because of the major event of stupidity and death that occurred but the remembrance part of the day applies to all war vets in all conflicts that Australia is part of.

Commemorate is a better word than celebrate.

I would much rather use Remembrance Day, November 11th, as a commemoration. At least it marked the cessation of hostilities.

What gets me is that most of the publicity surrounds Gallipoli, which of course commemorates where the first large scale Australian involvement in WW1 started. But 'only' about 8000 died there as compared to the 45000 or so who died on the Western front in France and Belgium in the following years.

Gallipoli is not the site of the first Australian deaths in WW1 - that dubious title falls to BitaPaka, near Rabaul, in what was then German New Guinea, in September 1914, though there is also some suggestion that there were some earlier deaths in France in August 1914.

I marched with my unit today in the main parade in Melbourne to the Shrine.
I was astounded by the heavy police presence.  Crowd numbers were good given the weather.

Commemorate is a better word than celebrate.

I've heard the word celebrate used to describe this centenary. One stupid episode amongst many in an incredibly stupid war is nothing to celebrate.

A generation went off to war for a variety of reasons. We should remember what they endured, those whose lives were cut short a long way from home, and those that survived; the wounded, the crippled and the broken ones.

I am Anzac-ed out. As far as I'm concerned, Anzac Day has no more significance than any other day of war on which people were killed.

Don't worry, it's over now and the media and the politicians will now be able to go back to the Bali drug runners.

61,000 of our troops died during WW1, and you guys are arguing about whether it should be 'celebrate' or 'commemorate'?

I am  in Paris preparing to travel to the Dawn Service at the Australian War memorial in Villers Bretonneux. My uncle who was killed on the Somme in 1916 is buried nearby. My mother was only 7 at the time.
I went to the Gallipoli Dawn Service in 2002. I try each year to be present at the Dawn Service in Martin Place. Once (2010) I attended the service in Dunedin but usually I combine Easter and Anzac in visiting relatives back in Sydney.  I think it is important to remember those who fought in the past even if I believe many of the wars were pointless. The soldiers did not understand that at the time. They did not have the investigative journalism (let alone the internet) that we have today.

Thanks for sharing.  Can you tell us about the crowd numbers over this weekend at Villers Bretonneux?

Anzac battle is as good as any to celebrate mateship. If you're going for numbers then Aussie sacrifice is pretty small compared to Russians with their 20 million dead. But they did have that psycho Stalin running the show, probably what was needed to beat the unhinged Hitler.

Anzac battle is as good as any to celebrate mateship. If you're going for numbers then Aussie sacrifice is pretty small compared to Russians with their 20 million dead. But they did have that psycho Stalin running the show, probably what was needed to beat the unhinged Hitler.

Yes, but you are talking two different wars here.

Thanks for sharing.  Can you tell us about the crowd numbers over this weekend at Villers Bretonneux?

The papers say 6000. It teemed rain. They said there were nearly 100 coaches. I was on number 44 waiting to be collected afterwards. I was impressed with the large number of French people who turned up at 5.30am despite the weather. They are grateful to the Australians who saved their town on April 25, 1918. I sat next to a couple - Brits who told me they lived in Australia for 17 years and also in NZ. They had wanted to attend although they are now living back in the UK. Left work on Friday afternoon and drove to France.
The company who organised my visit had 2 coaches from Paris and 1 from London. We later went to Pozieres (where my uncle was killed), Bullecourt (there had been another small service there) and Fromelles. Finally to the nearby "Cobbers Memorial" which tells it all for me. I had toured the Somme before but the tours had been multi-national and it was good this time to have the emphasis on Australia.
What always upsets me most is that my uncle is buried so far from his home and (to my knowledge) only I and my sister have ever visited his grave. It was a privilege to join those who have relatives  buried on the Somme in laying flowers at the ceremony.

Well done. I hope you enjoyed the parade.

The  least I hope for is that there will never be a repeat of the treatment meted out to Vietnam veterans upon their return from active service ever again. At this point of time, I see that ranking as one of Australia's grossest injustices.

I visited France several times in the later 70's early 80's but did not visit the Somme. I guess that was my anti-Vietnam beliefs. I ahve made up for it in my visits since 2002. However I like to think I never disrespected the guys who went. Some of them were my school mates. If I had been born 6 months later I would have been involved in the disgraceful "lottery" call up.

They are grateful to the Australians who saved their town on April 25, 2018.

Back to the future?

... John Howard when PM, commented clearly and correctly when going to Iraq/Afghanistan that any "problem" with the involvement in war should be taken up with the Government and not those serving - a clear reflection of what happenned during the Vietnam anti-war era.

'Supporting the troops' goes back to the 1991 Gulf War and Bob Hawke. It's been a bipartisan view ever since. It's the same attitude in the US.

Governments start wars, soldiers are sent to fight them, then governments forget them!