Today is the day that Australians recognise the fallen soldiers who sacrificed their lives to fight for people they didn’t know for a future they were uncertain of. On this day we commemorate those soldiers in particular who fought in Gallipoli in the first World War. These heroic soldiers represented the greatest human qualities of courage, mateship, and sacrifice, all characteristics now passed on through generations in Australia.

I was thinking about what it would have been like to be an ANZAC and go to war, quickly realising that many of the men who fought for our shores were the age I am now and it’s so difficult to think of myself leaving the perfect life I have to go off and fight for my country. I consider myself a patriotic Australian and to understand what others have done for me so my life to be as good as it is, the very least I can do it stand for a minute silence to remember the many who were lost.

In 2012 I travelled to the Gallipoli Peninsula and saw first hand the rugged coastline the Turks thanked as an ally. Visiting the place where so many lost their lives in such treacherous conditions brought a tear to the eye and weighed on my heart heavier than lead. Standing on the Turkish coastline among the sheer cliffs and graves, I still cannot comprehend their level of courage and bravery. The ANZAC’s represent the definition of honour.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young. Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow. They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted, They fell with their faces to the foe. They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, We will remember them.

Lest We Forget.