Lest We Forget 2011

They shall not grow old, as we who 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

This year Anzac Day has got swallowed up in Easter, which seems a shame. It is a day that has always been important to me, more so as I have aged and the full extent of the sacrifices that previous generations made to ensure our county, and indeed others, are with hope, a safe place to live.

My previous Anzac Day posts have been very personal, looking at how Anzac Day affects me and then looking at lives lost within my extended family 2009 and 2009, 2010 and 2010 (yes 2 per year).

This year my heart turns to those soldiers still fighting the war in Afghanistan, and to the families of the diggers who have lost their lives in this war. A lot of people wonder just what the hell we are doing over there. But we are Australian and isn't that our creed - to help others?

I love being Australian, knowing that I come from a land that has traditionally reached out to others to help in their struggles.

We not only help others within our own country - look at the response to the recent disasters here in 2011, but we also reach out to other countries in time of need.

We are often first responders to our neighbouring countries when things like mine disasters and earthquakes happen.

So this Anzac Day as I think of the thousands upon thousands of men and women who sacrificed their lives, so that I could have freedom - I remember the brave men and women, so far from home who are showing the true Aussie spirit, fighting for the rights of others so far from the families and country that they love.

Sentimental Sundays With An Anzac Day Twist

Last November when visiting my hubby's Aunty (one of my 'sisters') I was overwhelmed when she offered me this ring. It belonged to her mother, hubby's Nanna, who we both adored. That in itself left me speechless and almost in tears. Then she told me the story behind the ring.

Her father had bought the stone home from the Middle East during WWII (she thinks it was in a brooch) when he returned from his tour of duty before heading off to New Guinea. Later they had it made into a ring. I don't know what the stone is, possibly a topaz or citrine and one day I will have it assessed so that I know. But even if it is just glass, it still will always have a special place in my heart.

I never got to meet my hubby's grandfather. He committed suicide when J was nearly 9 and my hubby was 4. They were together when they found him in the back shed. A bond that no two children should have to share.

I asked my father-in-law who was 18 years older then J, and knew more about what had happened post-war, about his Dad when I found out about how he died when doing some family research. It seems he never got over the war and what he saw and possibly did. He was a hairdresser who enlisted to help his country. He served in the Middle East and New Guinea - I can't imagine the horrors he must have seen, which obviously stayed with him. I believe he loved his wife and 3 children very much, but one day it all became too much for him to bear and so he chose to leave.

My ex-father-in-law, was also a WWII veteran, and I remember being told how all those years later when I first met him, he was still occasionally having nightmares about it all.

I don't know if it is any easier for men and women who choose to serve in the armed forces and train to do so, but it certainly does not seem that it was easy for those that were either conscripted or volunteered to help their country.

So when I look and wear this beautiful ring, my heart will be touched by sadness and by love.

Ted, Beryl and baby Eddie (my f-i-l) in 1932

Lest We Forget 2010

They shall not grow old, as we who 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.

As posted before here Anzac Day touches my heart with sadness at the lives lost, it touches my heart with gladness for a country saved through the sacrifices of so many men and women. It is beyond my comprehension that so many lives have been lost in war. Not just the lives of Australian and New Zealanders, but men and women and children on both sides of war. The hope in my heart is for peace all over the world, for acceptance of people for who they are no matter what their religion or the colour of their skin. I wish there was a way that all the peoples of the earth could have enough to eat, enough land, enough money to survive. I wish the world was free of dictators and the greedy who through their actions mean wars still happen. It may be a vain wish, but it is my wish. As Australians let us always remember the sacrifices made for us by so many. Lest we forget.

Lest We Forget

In the pre-dawn light a crowd gathers to remember. The scouts and rovers have held an all night vigil. The dawn rises over the city as the bugle sounds the last post. And the crowd is silent as the haunting notes float out over the city.

Later an old man sits in a hospital car as it drives down the road and when asked how he is feeling he answers "fantastic - just look at this crowd, it gets bigger every year". Another old man sits in an open truck, splendid in his best suit and his old army beret, his medals proudly sitting on the left side of this chest and those of his relatives on the right - 3 lots in all. Medals that look heavy on his slight frame. As the truck gets to the dais he lurches to his feet and stands straight, holding on tightly with one arthritic hand but of so proud as he takes the salute, his arm snapping to his head - he has not forgotten even all these years later - he is 99.

A woman sits at home watching this unfold on TV with tears falling from her eyes for all those lost and all those that came back who proudly march or get driven in the hospital cars on this special Australian and New Zealand Day. She can not bring herself to go to the dawn service or the march as she knows that she will sob loudly as they pass and that is not what they need. They need the cheering children waving their flags. She does not understand why this day touches her heart so strongly, but it does. Could it be the tens of thousands of men and women who answered their countries call - a generation nearly lost on fields so far from home. Could it be the indifference that those conscripts in the the 60s and 70s suffered when they returned from their war. Could it be that lives are still being lost in Afghanistan. Can it be that being a wife and a mother she now understands how lucky she is not to have lost one of her own and so she grieves for all those mothers and wives who have?


They shall not grow old, as we who 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.

Let us never forget, let us show the pride and courage of the generations now gone and those that are now dwindling in numbers for they too will be gone before long. Let us remember the forgotten soldiers who did not have the chance to volunteer but were conscripted and who did our country proud in a war that no-one wanted. Let us remember the wives and mothers for they too paid the ultimate price. Let us as a country continue to remember for we do them a disservice if we forget.

Anzac Day - A Time To Remember

I know Anzac Day is a week away, but I was compelled to write and post this today.

From the poem For My Solider Son by Sandra Randall ©2007 (www.authorsden.com)

I am very sad today its time to say goodbye
To my Darling boy and I sit and cry
Why does there have to be war
Why oh why oh why

Hard to think of all those gone
All those left to die
Our Diggers in the trenches
Diggin in the dirt
Never mind if they’ve been shot
Or any of them hurt …

They just keep on going,
Blood, sweat and tears,
Our Soldiers bound together
For many many years

With Anzac Day approaching my thoughts often turn to how hard it must be to send your son or daughter go off to war. No matter how much you believed that they were going to fight to keep your country free, to know they may never return, I just don’t know how you do it. While it is hard to lose any member of your family to bury your child no matter what age must be the hardest thing of all.

During my years of researching my family tree (including my husbands) I have found many surprises, I have also found hardship and sorrow and the saddest, the one that touched my heart the most, was the story of my husband’s great grandmother Christina. Here is a small bit of her story. May none of us ever find ourselves in her shoes.

Her name was Christina Le Nepveu and she married Philip Richard Cornish in Vic in 1894, they had 5 children – 3 daughters and 2 sons. Her husband died in 1903 and she married Charles Allison Shaddock in 1906 and had 4 more sons, one who is my husbands grandfather Edward Louis.

Christina lost 2 of her sons in World War I. Imagine her heartbreak when 5 letters she had sent to her 18-year-old son were returned with the chilling word KILLED pencilled on them. She had no notification of his death and it took her months to have it confirmed. Then to have her other son wounded in France, paralysed but being sent home only to find out that he died at sea while being repatriated.

And so she buried two sons, collected their medals and somehow went on with her life. I am just thankful that she was not alive to see another of her sons go off to war in World War II and come back a broken man who eventually suicided because it was too much to bear.

To all the men and women who have died for us and to those who have survived but at what cost – I thank you for your sacrifice. To all the mothers still with us and those that are gone, my heart bleeds for your sacrifice. It still brings me to tears.


RIP our Anzac Family
Pte Philip John Cornish (1895-1917) Service No 76 22nd Battalion AIF. Died 29th March 1917. Awarded 1914/15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. Memorialised at Villers Bretonneux- France. On the Roll of Honour Australian War Memorial Canberra.

From his war records the following in despatches: “For consistent gallant conduct and devotion to duty as Stretcher-Bearer during the operations at Fleubaix, Armentieres and on the Somme. He has answered the call without hesitation and regardless of heavy fire, setting a fine example of devotion to duty and self sacrifice for the sake of his wounded comrades.”

It was while returning to the front after having taken another wounded solider back for help that Philip was shot in the back and paralysed on the 27th July 1916. He was shipped back to England and was being sent back to Australia where he died at sea from kidney failure as a result of his injuries.

Pte James Dudley Cornish (1897-1915) Service No 2133A Unit 6th Battalion AIF, died 7th August 1915, killed in action. Awarded 1914/15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. Memorialised at Lone Pine Memorial Gallipoli. On the Roll of Honour at the Australian War Memorial Canberra.

He was not officially listed as KIA until 7th March 1916 after a board of enquiry.

Board of Enquiry Statement
“Witness knew JD Cornish intimately, and confirms that statement that he had joined the Unit from reinforcements. He was in A Coy. He was killed in a charge early in August and witness was as close as possible to him when he fell. They had gone into action side by side. Witness undid his equipment but there was nothing to be done, as he had been killed outright. He was not buried for as he had fallen between the two firing lines his body had to be left there. “

And Christina’s letter to the Dept of Defence – one of many before she had her answer.

Dear Sir In answer to your telegram this morning, I am enclosing one envelope returned to me. I sent one to my daughter in town and gave 2 to a lady going to town yesterday she was going to make enquiries for me. This envelope was the last one I wrote to my dear boy the day they went on the boat. They landed in Egypt on 17 July and the last letter he wrote to me was dated 26th July he said then they did not know when they would be going to the front and that was the last I heard of him till I received these letters – each of them returned and marked killed on every one. Just the same as this one which was a great shock to us all and I will be glad to receive some news as soon as possible. Dated 26 January 1916.

Pte Edward Louis Shaddock (1910=1959) Service No VX35427. 2/6 Battalion AIF. Served in Middle East April 1941-May 1942, New Guinea October 1942 to September 1945 Awarded 1939/45 star, the Pacific Star, the Defence Medal, the War Medal, and the Australian Service Medal.

May we all take a moment this Anzac Day to remember those that sacrificed so much for our freedom. Not just those that served at the front in all our Wars, but also those that stayed at home and waited never knowing what would come. To those that sacrificed through rationing in the first 2 Wars and to those that came home from the Vietnam War with no recognition and little reward. I personally will never forget your sacrifices and continue to give thanks in my own way each and every Anzac Day.