"ANZAC."

North Otago Times, Volume CVI, Issue 13983, 20 November 1917, Page 8

"ANZAC."

. . orlgiij'^of.; t)ic ( ;Avord:''Ai<za(|i"■ although ■' clearly' deaeribed Sir Inn Hamilton in his memorable Gal' Hp6l i '(lcßpateh)fi^^nlroady, .b'con the 'i subject, of at least jiWf-a-tjozeifheatcil controversies." It is-almoU too'elementary |to Way .that Anzac'is merely' a harmless acrostic composed of .the initial letters .of the title"Australian' ■ Ne ( w Zealand Ariny:Corps,-".:It has boon Btateii on;more or less reliable authority ttiat'thero f is a Turkish'wonVf ' Anzak," meaning- ' only just.lf this is so, 1 It :is only just, a coincidence artd n'othing ; more., '< , V !As fdr who coined or used tho wovd in tlio first' place, s ther6is 'possibly legitimate 'grounds" for: cpnttotfupy. Thoro has just been received, from Lieutenant Keith M, LitUe (Weilingtoli), who Was on Corps Headquar-' ' tors at the time, a statement which seems; to clear, up this, side of the mnttcr.. Lieutlpnant. Little says: ; - "No accurate:account concerning the origination of the. ivord 'Anzac' has yet been published, so'with'tho desire, of aettliiig onco and for all the ninny! doubts surrounding the wordy 'I will describe its discovery and 'history. Shortly after.-{ho first Expeditionary i Force representing the, Commonwealth cf Australia and the Dominion of New Zealand arrived in Egypt (early, in December, 1914) it was decided fo organise the two forces into an army corps, officially designed the Australian and Now Zealand Army Corps. The officers of Corps Headquarters came from India, end the clerical staff, which I joined on December 20,1914, comprised representatives from both the colonial r'erces aud one or two from the Im- " perial Army. Shortly after Corps Headquarters had boon established in Cairo,' the necessity for a telegraphic address arose, and after many abbreviated forms of the official designation ol' tlie corps had been submitted, the word ' Anzac' was discovered. The ' word was actually discovered .by the ' ouperintending clerk (animperial Army 1 'officer of the A.S.C.), and 'he simply hit on the /idea of joining the first letters' of the words in the title of the corps. The .suggested code word was thereupon submitted to General Birdwood, who adopted it, and it then came into official use in so far as telegraphic communications were observed, It was not until the corps landed on the'Gjillipoli Peninsula that it came into prominence, and t.lien only as a result of .the decision to christen the spot ■ on which we landed 'Anzac.' The word was then generally adopted,'and Unofficial operation maps were marked accordingly, and our headquarters were officially styled Anzac Headquarters.'.'