Remembering Gallipoli: ANZAC Day 2016 in Athens, Greece

ANZAC Day
Anzac Day marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War, and is held every year on April 25th around the world. Read more

The ANZAC tradition – the ideals of courage, endurance and comradeship that are still relevant today – was established on 25 April 1915 when the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula, using Lemnos island as a support base.

It was the start of a gruelling campaign that lasted eight months and would result in thousands of Australian and New Zealand casualties and deaths.  Their memory and sacrifices are honoured at ceremonies around the world each year on 25 April.
 

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,We will remember them...

Australia New Zealand Army Corps

Lest we forget....

The Australian Embassy has invited New Zealanders and Australians and friends of both countries to attend the ANZAC Day Commemorative Celebrations

on

Monday 25 April 2016, 11.00 a.m.

at

The Commonwealth War Cemetery

in

Alimos

(Posidonos Avenue and Ethnarhou Makariou Street)

Let's all be there, as we are every year, to honour the memory of those valiant young men who came to the other side of the world to fight , not just in World War I but in World War II as well, so that we could be free.

 

Let's remember too, the first 'modern' genocide, that of the 1.5 million Armenian, 700 thousand Greek and 500 thousand Assyrian Christians who were slaughtered or expelled from the Pontos in the first systematic ethnic cleansing of the 20th century by the Turkish army as they sought to 'purify' their land of peoples who had lived there for centuries. 

Massacres, forced deportations, death marches, summary expulsions, arbitrary executions and the destruction of Christian Orthodox cultural, historical and religious monuments were just a few of the 'weapons' chosen by the Young Turks to bring about this genocide... a genocide which has been recognised by the International Association of Genocide Scholars in 2007, and by Greece, Cyprus, Holland, Sweden, Armenia, France and Germany, the EU Parliament and Pope Frances recently but which Turkey still refuses to acknowledge...

1915 - 2015 Honouring Our Heroes 100 Years on: ANZAC Day in Athens, Greece

An ANZAC soldier stands tall 
as tall and straight as Europe's omnipresent red poppies 
From the Sound and light show 
at Wellington's National War Memorial and Carillon

This year marks the centenary of the Gallipoli Campaign by the ANZACs

The ANZAC tradition – the ideals of courage, endurance and comradeship that are still relevant today – was established on 25 April 1915 when the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula, using Lemnos island as a support base.

It was the start of a gruelling campaign that lasted eight months and would result in thousands of Australian and New Zealand casualties and deaths.  Their memory and sacrifices are honoured at ceremonies around the world each year on 25 April.
 

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,We will remember them...

Australia New Zealand Army Corps

Lest we forget....

The Australian Embassy has invited New Zealanders and Australians and friends of both countries to attend the ANZAC Day Commemorative Celebrations

on

Saturday 25 April 2015, 11.00 a.m.

at

The Commonwealth War Cemetery

in

Alimos

(Posidonos Avenue and Ethnarhou Makariou Street)

Let's all be there, as we are every year, to honour the memory of those valiant young men who came to the other side of the world to fight , not just in World War I but in World War II as well, so that we could be free.

 ANZAC Day 2014
Hellenic New Zealand Association member Robyn Gray
lays the Association's wreath at the ceremony in Athens 
Photo Courtesy Sharon Marsden Chelmis  

ANZAC Day
 Anzac Day marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War, and is held every year on April 25th around the world. Read more

 Photos below are from the amazing sound and light show at Wellington's National War Museum and Carillon this week.
Photos Courtesy George Kanelos

1914: World War I begins...

 Places... where NZ soldiers fought and fell...

Medals...for heroism in faraway places

Lest we forget....

Let's remember too that this year also commemorates 100 years from the first 'modern' genocide, that of the 1.5 million Armenian, 700 thousand Greek and 500 thousand Assyrian Christians who were slaughtered or expelled from the Pontos in the first systematic ethnic cleansing of the 20th century by the Turkish army as they sought to 'purify' their land of peoples who had lived there for centuries. 

Massacres, forced deportations, death marches, summary expulsions, arbitrary executions and the destruction of Christian Orthodox cultural, historical and religious monuments were just a few of the 'weapons' chosen by the Young Turks to bring about this genocide... a genocide which has been recognised by the International Association of Genocide Scholars in 2007, and by Greece, Cyprus, Holland, Sweden, Armenia, France and Germany, the EU Parliament and Pope Frances recently but which Turkey still refuses to acknowledge...

ANZAC Day 2013 in Greece...Lest we Forget

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,We will remember them...

Australia New Zealand Army Corps

Lest we forget....

The Australian Embassy has invited New Zealanders and Australians and friends of both countries to attend the ANZAC Day Commemorative Celebrations

on

Thursday 25 April 2013, 11.00 a.m.

at

The Commonwealth War Cemetery

in

Alimos

(Posidonos Avenue and Ethnarhou Makariou Street)

Let's all be there, as we are every year, to honour the memory of those valiant young men who came to the other side of the world to fight , not just in World War I but in World War II as well, so that we could be free.

Hellenic New Zealand Association,

Athens, Greece

We who to clothe Hellas in freedom fought,
Lie here at rest in praise that fadeth not...

  Official representatives line up to lay wreaths 

in memory of those who fell in Greece 

in the course of duty ...

ANZAC Day
Anzac Day marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War, and is held every year on April 25th around the world. Read more

ANZAC Day in Athens...and ANZAC Biscuits!

Athens put on it's best weather for ANZAC Day last year! We had all gathered at the Alimos Commonwealth War Cemetery to take part in the annual ANZAC Day celebrations, a very moving experience for all concerned.

After the ANZAC Day ceremony in Athens, we (my 9 year-old Anastasia and I) decided to make a batch of Allyson Gofton's Anzac Biscuits.... I had written the post but forgotten to post...sorry for the delay, but it's just in time for this year. See you all on Sunday!

"My Dad was a 'Digger' and proud of it, and the one thing that best recalls that time when we all pulled together is the Anzac biscuit, created with love by mums and daughters to send to their sons and fathers at the Front."  - Allyson Gofton

A good friend from Wellington sent me the recipe just for the occasion! Thanks Gina - they are as good as we remember them...even without Golden Syrup. Incidentally, I have yet to find the equivalent in Greece...I used honey, but any suggestions welcome!

This recipe makes about 36. Preparation time: 15 minutes. Cooking time: 12-15 minutes

Ingredients:
1 cup flour,
1 cup sugar
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup desiccated coconut
175 grams butter
2 tablespoons golden syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 teaspoon baking soda,
2 tablespoons boiling water

Preheat the oven to 180C. Lightly grease 1 or 2 baking trays or line with baking paper. In a large bowl, sift flour with a good pinch of salt. Stir in the sugar, rolled oats and coconut and make a well in the centre.

In a saucepan, melt the butter, golden syrup and vanilla essence together.

Dissolve the baking soda in the boiling water. Mix into the melted butter and quickly pour into the well. Mix all ingredients together quickly. Roll tablespoonfuls of the mixture into balls and place on the prepared trays. Flatten with the tines of a floured fork. Bake in the preheated oven for 12 to 15 minutes until the biscuits have flattened out and have become a reddish-brown colour. Transfer to a cake rack. They will crispen as they cool. Store in an airtight container.

To make chocolate Anzacs, melt 150 grams dark chocolate either in the microwave or over the top of a double saucepan. Dip half an Anzac into the melted chocolate and allow the excess to fall off.

Place on a baking paper-lined tray and allow the chocolate to set before storing in an airtight container.

Lest We Forget...ANZAC Day 2009 in Greece

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,We will remember them

Australia New Zealand Army Corps

Lest we forget....

The Australian Embassy has invited New Zealanders and Australians and friends of both countries to attend the ANZAC Day Commemorative Celebrations

on

Saturday 25 April 2009, 11.00 a.m.

at

The Commonwealth War Cemetery

in

Alimos

(Posidonos Avenue and Ethnarhou Makariou Street)

Let's all be there, as we are every year, to honour the memory of those valiant young men who

came to the other side of the world to fight , not just in

World War I but in World War II as well, so that we could be free.

Hellenic New Zealand Association

ANZAC Day

Anzac Day marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War, and is held every year on April 25th.

The Gallipoli campaign

In 1915, Australian and New Zealand soldiers formed part of an Allied expedition that set out to capture the Gallipoli Peninsula, under a plan to open the way to the Black Sea for the Allies. The objective was to capture Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire and an ally of Germany

The ANZAC force landed at Gallipoli on 25 April, meeting fierce resistance from the Turkish Army commanded by Ataturk. What had been planned as a bold strike to knock Turkey out of the war quickly became a stale-mate, and the campaign dragged on for eight months. At the end of 1915, the Allied forces were evacuated after both sides had suffered heavy casualties and endured great hardships. Over 8,000 Australian and 2,700 New Zealand soldiers died. News of the landing at Gallipoli made a profound impact on Australians and New Zealanders at home and 25 April quickly became the day on which they remembered the sacrifice of those who had died in war.

Though the Gallipoli campaign failed in its military objectives of capturing Istanbul and knocking Turkey out of the war, the Australian and New Zealand troops' actions during the campaign bequeathed an intangible but powerful legacy. The creation of what became known as an ANZAC Legend became an important part of the national identity in both countries, shaping the ways their citizens viewed both their past and their future.

Read More at Wikipedia