PaulMurrayCbr,
I agree. The problem for me is the repeated declaration that Gallipoli was to do with the formation of the nation. I also regret the pseudo religious talk of sacrifice.

Whatever we may feel nowadays, the idea that Gallipoli was somehow the real birth of the nation came very early. Look at Banjo Paterson’s poem “we’re all Australians now”, published in 1915 as an open letter to the troops at Gallipoli:

The mettle that a race can show
Is proved with shot and steel,
And now we know what nations know
And feel what nations feel

http://allpoetry.com/'We're-All-Australians-Now'

It's all a bit jingoistic and militaristic for my taste, but it illuminates what some people were thinking at the time.

PaulMurrayCBR & Sells definately agree as well, wish all these war mongering Governments past & present, who never attend the front line but only too happy to kill off the young in battle, then attend with solemn faces memorials on their behalf, but really couldn't care less, they being the ones who caused their death in the first place.
Having eighteen year old relatives who died in WW1, I wonder why they died for King and not their country, what fools they were, King how absurd.

My son as a teenager in the US demonstrated against the Vietnamese War. In spite of that he said to me, "When I am 18 I don't want to miss the experience of my generation." Fortunately the war was over before he was 18.

Great article, Peter - just perfect!

Dear Rhrosty,

<<Even so, I believe we should pay some,[least we forget,] homage to these men, who sacrificed all so we could enjoy the freedom we have today!>>

But are we free? We are caught in such a web of laws, created by an involuntary body which never even asked us whether we want to belong to it. So long for example that one is not permitted to ride a bicycle without a pot over their head, we are not free!

And were those poor soldiers actually sacrificing their lives? Sacrificing is a voluntary act, but had they not simply been placed in impossible situations where they had no choice but to obey the most stupid orders? Some of them did sacrificed themselves - mainly for their mates, but most were just killed.

Dear Killarney,

I don't know about the others, but Krishna was never sacrificed, nor died in the prime of his life: he had a long life, begot a grandson (Aniruddha) and only left this world once all his tasks for which he came were accomplished.

It's funny how war remembrance only focuses on men killed in battle.

It never gives any attention to those civilians that were killed in the wars fought, often by those very men whose deaths we are commemorating. Other than the Peace monument in Toowong Cemetery in Brisbane - which was built by a private citizen - I can't think of a single war memorial to civilians killed in war. Why are they never honoured or commemorated?

Neither is there a memorial or special day for the indigenous people killed defending their country from invasion.

Neither do we ever commemorate the millions of women who have died in the process of giving birth. Why is their sacrifice never honoured with a memorial or special day?

Also, what about the many people who fought for our REAL freedoms - the freedom to work in decent conditions for a decent wage, the freedom to have time off and to work a reasonable number of hours per day, the freedom to vote, the freedom to access low-cost medical care and education, the freedom of a social safety net if we fall on difficult times.

These freedoms were never given to us. They all had to be fought for, often at great personal cost to those who did the fighting - and whose 'sacrifices' are now completely forgotten.