ANZAC Day 2010

Remembering the Fallen. No, the holiday applies to Australia and New Zealand only, not Malaysia...

The night before was rough, with most of Unit 14 went out for the night for some Laser Tag fun at Joondalup. Sadly we lost. But hey no one slept, I think, and a few hours later we were all set up to go for the Dawn Service for ANZAC Day.

At 4:30am it was uber-freezing and the sprinklers were not helping. Thanks to Kelvin's advise I got 3-4 layers of clothing because it's going to be colder. We were met with a few other students who hopped onto the bus to King's Park, where the dawn service was held.

Held every 25th of April every year in both Australia and NZ, ANZAC (Australian New Zealand Army Corps.) Day is solemnly celebrated to remember the fallen ANZAC soldiers at Gallipoli during WWI in 25th April 1915, where the ill-fated 8th Battalion landed 1 mile off their intended beach and were met with fierce resistance from the Ottoman Turks causing more than 8,000 deaths for the ANZAC soldiers. The day is also celebrated to commemorate other ANZAC troops' sacrifice at other war theaters from there onwards.



The mood was obviously solemn for the Australians, but the noise of the DSLRs snapping and handphone cameras clicking were all from the Asians like me. I do feel outta place but I don't do anything too noisy to respect the event. After a while the breezy 15°C wind send me into the solemn mood as well, as the dawn service began with wreath laying and a speech. Despite not being an Australian I shared the feeling of loss and felt patriotic just by listening to the speech. It all ended with planes flying overhead and no applause were heard.

Strangely there were no 21 guns salute as expected or as blogged by others. Must be something to do with the traditions in Western Australia. It ended by 6:40am, and I skipped the parade that was held at 9am because I was dead sleepy. Hopefully these videos compensate my post on the latter events: