Lest we forget

I don't agree with everything that Garth George writes, but I was touched by his column in this morning's NZ Herald. And though we are still a few hours away from Anzac Day, George has set the scene for the day on which we remember and commemorate the fallen. Here 'tis:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/466/story.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10505854&pnum=0

I was especially touched by his conclusion:

"So sometime tomorrow morning I will pick up my Anzac stone and give it a rub, and in my mind's eye return to the hills of Gallipoli.
I will recall the deep sense of kinship I felt for that place and reread the words of Mustapha Kemal Ataturk, who cleverly led the Turkish defence at Gallipoli and later became president, which are inscribed on a memorial at Anzac Cove.
"Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives, you are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours. You the mothers who sent their sons from far away countries wipe away your tears. Your sons are now in our bosom and are at peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well."

And I will praise God for that."

I'm one of the fortunate ones. My grandfather was a Gallipoli veteran, my father a veteran of campaigns in North Africa and Greece during WWII, and my eldest brother fought briefly in Vietnam. By accident of birth and timing, I have escaped the horror of war. And I pray fervently that my children and theirs will have similar luck to me. In the meantime, lest we forget....

"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."

Laurence Binyon - For the Fallen