Soldiers commemorating Anzac march in Melbourne.
Sunday marks Anzac day in Australia, a day to commemorate the members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who were killed and injured at Gallipoli in Turkey during the Second World War.
It is held on the 25th of April every year in both Australia and New Zealand as this was the day that soldiers landed at Gallipoli in order to try and capture Istanbul and free the Black Sea for allied use. The battle raged for 8 long months and by the end of the fighting, over 8,000 Australian soldiers and 2,700 New Zealand soldiers were dead with many more maimed and injured.
Melbourne will host the biggest remembrance service with its Dawn Service which organisers are hoping to attract more than 40,000 people. One person who is hoping to be able to make the service is 96 year old British veteran Reg Dickinson.
Reg fought as a British soldier with the ‘Rats of Tobruk’, Australian troops who were fighting to capture the Libyan port of Tobruk during the war. Then during the 1980s he emigrated to Australia and now lives in a nursing home in Werribee.
Earlier this month Reg was attacked and robbed as he returned home from playing the pokies. A man and a teenage girl have been arrested and are due in court in Melbourne today charged with assault and robbery.
When Victorian Premier John Brumby heard of the assault he invited Reg to the march on Sunday as a guest of the government. Reg, who had never been able to attend the march, was delighted to accept the offer, although he has declined to join in the marching. He will join around 1,200 other World War II veterans.
Members of Melbourne’s Turkish community will also take part in the march and in Marysville, a town ravaged by the bushfires last year, they will donate a pine sapling taken from the pine that stands above Anzac Cove in Gallipoli. The sapling will be planted in the town’s Reflective Garden.
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One Response to “British Expat Soldier to Join Anzac March”
Comment by Phil S — April 30, 2010 @ 10:01 pm
Great article, just wanted to let people know that information for future ANZAC March events can be found on their local RSL branches websites.