Col. D.J. Duffy MC. ED.
As the Master drew back the curtains
of night,
On that Historical April Morn.
They began the bloody fight,
And the immortal name of "Anzac" was born.
They came in
with the dawn,
And landed on the shore.
The bravest men ever born,
The Australian New Zealand Army Corps.
They carved a
name in this foreign land,
To be cherished for evermore,
Their blood stained the golden sand,
In the bloodiest battle of the War.
Valiant, they
suffered the horrors and pain,
Bravely, they fought on the field,
Many fell, never to rise again.
Others with wounds, that will never heal.
But their
fighting sprit was still intact,
They were fighting for the sake of liberty,
These gallant young men of Anzac,
These men from the land of the free.
All were
initiated in this fearsome battle,
The flower of our Country's youth.
Facing the bayonet and the guns' fiendish rattle,
they became veterans in that moment of truth.
They confirmed
the courage of Anzac,
And wrote their names in History's pages,
As they fought up the famous track,
Step by step, in perilous stages.
They were
slain, as they struggled up the slope,
But still united side by side,
Little knowing there was no hope.
Yes, to them victory was denied.
They were
forced to retreat down that deadly trail,
The ridge and the summit they would never reach,
But they remained undaunted, succeed or fail,
And fought a rear-guard action on the beach.
Weary and
wounded they sailed away,
After that last gallant stand,
Some to fight on another day,
Others left buried in that foreign land.
They gave all
they could give,
On that terrible terrain.
They died that we might live,
And know freedom and peace again.
Today we know
Gallipoli was not in vain,
It taught us how to face the foe.
Gave us heritage and a fighting name,
On that first Anzac Day long ago.
The fallen, who
are free from jealousy and hate,
For them we no longer mourn nor weep.
They have entered Heaven's Gate,
But treasured memories' we will always keep.
As the Master
rings down the curtain of night,
And fades the sunset beauty of gold and. mauve,
We will remember that costly fight,
And those comrades, who sleep above Anzac Cove.
Col. D.J. Duffy
MC. ED.
(Source: Norm King - Makan No. 249,
July/August, 1979)
