I’ve traveled to Gallipoli twice…once in 1995 as part of the Grand Tour I did with Big Sal back in 1995 and again in 2007 with Dr Nick.  It truly is a place, while being so far from home, stirs the imagination and the hearts of every Australian and New Zealander who visits there.  But something we, as Australians often overlook is the great sense of loss and grief and the subsequent deference the Turks themselves hold for the Gelibolu Peninsula and the horrific events that occurred there.  This is something we don’t teach in schools here – how the other side felt, but it is something that stays with you once you’ve visited this solemn site.

ANZAC Day has always evoked strong memories for me ever since I was a kid – from discovering my Grandfather had killed several Japanese soldiers with an axe in the Pacific in WWII earning him the Military Medal, to the loss of my three small cousins in a tragic drowning incident on ANZAC Day in 1988  🙁   But still my most enduring ANZAC memories are from participating in dawn service memorials and commemorative marches when I was in the army cadets and from those two visits to Gallipoli which will stay with me awlays.

Lest we forget…