The Press Monday, April 24, 1922. Anzac Day.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17437, 24 April 1922, Page 6

The Press Monday, April 24, 1922. Anzac Day.

Time has brought us once more to the eve of Anzac Day, that day consecrated in our nafioiial history by memories of mingled pride and sorrow —pride in the courage and endurance of our men, sorrow for those who laid down their lives in battle. With the passing of the years the Dominion's desire to commemorate fitly and solemnly, not only the heroism of the landing on Gallipoli, but the services and sacrifices by our men on every fighting-front in the whole area of the Great "War, has not diminished, and to-morrow there is no part of the country, no section of the community, that will not be reminded of the undying story of the day and of the lessons that it taught and may still teach us. Much that happened: in the war is mercifully passing from memory; there are times when it almost seems as though the war itself were being forgotten, and from some points of view one would not have it. otherwise. But in New Zealand and Australia, those who fell upon the beaches and slopes of CJailipoli will never be forgotten. "They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old; Age shall not weary them, nor the jears condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them."

They have their share in immortal fame. "Before us," so ran the opening lines of Sir lan Hamilton's order to the troops under his command, before the expedition sailed from Mudras, "lies an adventure unprecedented in "modern war," and he closed with the appeal, "Let us prove ourselves worthy "of the great feat of arms entrusted "to us." Never was there a nobler response to any similar appeal. Those lads of ours, who had so lately thrown down the pen and abandoned the plough to fight for our freedom and that of the generations to come, bore themselves like veterans and blazoned the name of their country on the history of the war and of the world. Living or dead, those who won through all the perils of the campaign and those who returned to us no more, all are alike honoured on Anzao Day. But while the unforgotten dead Jive ever in our minds, is it equally assured that the living are also kept in remembrance P We can only show our sense of gratitude to the dead by seeing to it that life is not made hard and bitter for their surviving comrades, for lack of the practical sympathy, and help, which the community can readily afford them, and which, we believe, will be forthcoming in generous measure in response to the appeal of those who are working for their welfare. The proud and reverential remembrance that we tender to-morrow to the men who fell on Gallipoli .and in every field of war will be meaningless unless we also resolve that not one of those who came back to us shall have occasion to reproach us with ingratitude. That is a lesson of Anzao Day which must not be overlooked.