ANZAC Day in Sydney in 2021 saw the unthinkable occur. The 7th Division Banner was not marched. This is the Division of the Australian Army that fought the Kokoda Track. This is the banner that in recent years was preceded by a jeep in which sat a representative of the New Guinea Highland tribes who provided the ‘fuzzy wuzzy’ angels. It made the news every night of ANZAC Day in the past decade. Not a mention of this momentous event.
The Great War and the Second World War touched every village, every city due to the numbers who signed up. But what about the rest of Australia’s overseas involvement? The list of overseas service that Australians have served in is longer than most understand:
| Second Boer War | 1899-1902 | 16,000 enlisted | 586 are known to have died for various reasons | |
| The Great War | 1914-18 | 416,809 enlisted | 60,000 killed | 156,000 wounded, gassed or taken prisoner |
| The Second World War | 1939-45 | Almost a million Australians served. | 39,000 died | 30,000 taken prisoner (2/3rd by the Japanese) |
| The Korean War | 1950-53 | 17,000 served | 340 killed | 1,126 wounded and 29 became POWs |
| Indonesian Confrontation (Borneo) | 1963-66 (Under British command) | 17,000 Commonwealth troops including Australians | 23 killed | 8 wounded |
| The Vietnam War | 1962-75 | Almost 60,000 served | 521 died | 3000 wounded |
| The Gulf War & Iraq | 1990-91 | 1,800 | No deaths | |
| Bougainville, | 1997 – 2003 Peacekeeping role | 300 | ||
| Rwanda (UNAMIR) | 1993 – 1996 | 308 first Australian contingent | ||
| Timor – Leste Operation ASTUTE | 2006 – 2013 | 360 | ||
| Afghanistan Operation Slipper | 1991 – 2014 | Highest deployment 1551 26,000 have served | 41 | 249 wounded. |
The standout is the Vietnam War. Has Australia truly remembered this conflict? Yet these are now the greatest number of veterans alive from any given conflict. It’s time “we shall remember them” with recognition.
Then there are those who served in Afghanistan, particularly those who did more than one tour of duty. When you meet one of these fine young men ask them how they really are. If you press the point after the usual Aussie reply of ‘OK”, you might catch in their eyes a glimpse of their hearts and souls and the impact that conflict had on them. Do we truly remember these young people who are getting on with civilian life? Just maybe the forthcoming Royal Commission might kick open the door on these issues. Don’t hold your breath.
Then there is ‘Lest we forget’ for those who read their history books. It is well recorded just how ill prepared Australia was for the Great War and the Second World War. Woefully inadequate preparation, but then we were a small country growing wool for the British Empire. Of course, we all know that much has changed and Australia ‘now punches above its weight’. So, are we ready for the challenge to defend our shores? Have you read about the French submarine debacle as Australia tries to refit for the future against an arms race with China and the immediacy of the issue of Taiwanese sovereignty? The next armed conflict will have technology that not even Hollywood has dreamed up.
As we watch young people with hands held by parents walk up to the shrines of remembrance to put a rose or flowers as a token of thankfulness, have we really truly thought about what the ‘Ode of Remembrance’ really confronts?
Anzac Day is a day of much mixed emotions. There are our family members who the baby boomers might have known but the younger ones just see a photograph. The baby boomers know who went to Vietnam and who got back alright, and we watch the Iraq War and Afghanistan veterans and pray for them. But for the rest of us, do we really know what war really does? It is the greatest dislocating factor known in history, it changes societies and family and people. Covid 19 lockdown is a walk in the park to what Australians had during 1939 – 45 and through to the late 50’s.
The tradition of Dawn Services is an echo of the military operation of ‘Stand-To. The breaking of dawn is a tactical time of the day to mount an attack, so an army needs to be at their posts at dawn, so Stand-To occurs in the time before dawn to obtain that readiness. This symbolism has been and is relevant still for ANZAC Day and our sovereignty and our remembrance.
Is Australian ready for another conflict on our doorstep? ‘Lest we forget’ has a greater relevancy now than at any other time in the past 70 years.
