A CEREMONY held just after dawn in Dublin yesterday marked the 97th anniversary of Anzac Day, when Australian and New Zealand troops set out to capture the Gallipoli peninsula.
More than 100 people stood in Grangegorman Military Cemetery amid the gravestones of Irish men who fought in the first World War, all wearing rosemary sprigs to remember those who died. The cemetery contains the graves of 619 soldiers.
More than 10,000 Australian and New Zealand troops died in the battle for Gallipoli in Turkey, which began on April 25th, 1915. Anzac (Australian and New Zealand Army Corp) Day has been commemorated since then in both countries. The occasion has been marked in Ireland since 2006.
Under yesterday’s leaden sky, Australian ambassador Bruce Davis told the gathering how Anzac Day was “now viewed as a defining moment in the development of nationhood in Australia and New Zealand”.
He said three soldiers from New Zealand and seven from Australia were buried in Grangegorman, along with another 20 on the island of Ireland. New Zealand, with a population of 1.1 million in 1914, had sent 100,000 men and women to the war, he said.
Some 16,700 had died and more than 40,000 were wounded, a higher per capita casualty rate than any other country. The ambassador said many thousands of Irish had taken part in the war and it was important to remember them.
Msgr Eoin Thynne, chaplain to the Irish Defence Forces, led prayers for national leaders working to promote understanding between people, for those who were suffering as a result of war, terrorism and violence and for those buried in Grangegorman.
“That the example of their self-sacrificing courage may inspire us to face the difficulties of our time with integrity and goodwill,” he said.
Singer and harpist Ann Tuite performed the Prayer of St Francis Assisi after which wreaths were laid at a memorial to both world wars by Mr Davis and the first secretary at the New Zealand embassy in London, John Riley, on behalf of their governments.
Minister for Defence Alan Shatter laid a wreath on behalf of the Government and people of Ireland. Col John Hutcheson, representing the Australian Defence Forces, read the Ode of Remembrance. Bugler John Connolly of the Irish Defence Forces school of music played the Last Post as military personnel, both current and retired, saluted the flags of the three countries.
Two minutes silence was followed by the reveille.
Others present included British ambassador Dominick Chilcott and Belgian ambassador Robert Devriese, Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan, Lord Mayor of Dublin Andrew Montague and Lieut Brendan Wallis RN, New Zealand Defence Forces.
Representatives from the Ireland-Australia Association and the New Zealand-Ireland Association also attended.
