Today, April 25th, is ANZAC Day here in Australia and in New Zealand. The date commemorates the first day that the combined forces of the two countries (hence ANZAC) went into battle at Gallipoli in the First World War.

As well as acting as something that highlighted the entry of both countries as honest to goodness nations in their own right, rather than just colonies, it’s also interesting to note, for those of us who work in media, that it was one of the first cases of media standing up to government censors. The hero of the hour? A certain Keith Murdoch (you might be familiar with his son).

It is truly heartening to see, nearly 100 years since that fateful day, how seriously these two countries take the commemoration of those who died in the two world wars, as well as the various battlefields that their troops have found themselves on since then. Whilst the First World War was a huge global folly, whose victims should be mourned, those who fought in the Second World War sacrificed so much in what was, as much as anything ever is, a true battle between good & evil.

We should never forget that, and should always honour those who gave so much, even if what they fought for was, one could argue, squandered in so many ways.

Photo courtesy of Gnangarra on Wikipedia