Bobble your contributions always bring in some interesting, and often unknown points.
I think your point about Kokoda is absolutely correct and this is a point of view that
is gaining more currency. Let us hope it will be given due recognition, just as the battle of
Long Tan has been given recognition for the Viet Nam vets.
Yes, Gallipoli was a bloody disaster in every respect but the point of Anzac Day, I feel, is to
remember sacrifices in all wars. The fact that Anzac Day was the first of these commenorative
services gives it such a lot of clout in its primacy, but this should not diminish the thought of
other events. This also seems to be an attitude that is gaining clarity.
War is a dirty business and the sorts of brutality you mention often go unnoticed in the greater picture.
The culpability of politicians and military leaders is never really investigated thoroughly and certainly no
politician is ever brought to account for their actions. Some might say the ballot box does that, but is
that enough??
Crazy things happen in war. My Gallipoli grandather had to change his name before enlisting. His name was
was Peter Wilhelm Lehn and his father was Danish. The Wilhelm was changed to William for pretty obvious reasons!
My father's mother had been widowed a number of years before marrying one Vince Furst, an Austrian. Vince had
jumped ship somewhere along the Cape and eventually ended up in the Kyogle area where he worked in the timber
game alongside my father and his brothers. Vince was a well known and vociferous Hitler hater but at the outbreak of
WW2 he still hadn't become a naturalized citizen. On that account my grandmother was told to either divorce Vince or be
treated as an enemy alien and have her citizenship stripped from her!! Grandma refused to "do that to poor Vince": and had
her citizenship stripped. It was in the early 50s that Grandma had to go through a naturalization ceremony to regain her
citizenship! All this despite having five enlisted sons!!
Yes, war has strange consequences for the innocent and terrible consequences for those involved. There seem to be no answers
for our continued stupidity just as there will never be any finality in this debate about commemoration and remembrance. I see this
as healthy as it keeps our thoughts in the right place.
