(REUTERS)
SYDNEY — Thousands of
people in Australia and New Zealand
held services Wednesday to honor their war veterans on a national holiday,
including a march to remember oft-forgotten black soldiers who served reports Madeleine
Coorey of AFP in the Middle East Times of April 25, 2007.
Anzac Day
marks the start of the grueling World War I battle of Gallipoli, in which
thousands of Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (Anzac) soldiers died, and
which now honors all those who served in wartime.
More than
10,000 people crowded the Australian War Memorial in Canberra
for a dawn service and some 20,000 lined Sydney
streets to cheer a veterans’ parade.
The parade
was led by two riderless horses to symbolize the passing of all Australian
veterans from the Boer and first world wars.
Meanwhile,
a small number of indigenous ex-servicemen led about 300 supporters through the
streets of inner-city Redfern, Sydney’s
Aboriginal heartland, to the applause of scores of onlookers.
“It
brings tears to my eyes,” said retired Chief Petty Officer David Williams,
a navy submariner who spent 29 years in the military.
“It is
a thank you and that is all a digger [soldier] requires whether they are black,
white, or brindle.”
About 500
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders were involved in World War I and as many
as 5,000 in World War II, but they received little or no recognition and faced
racism and inequality when they returned home.
Ray
Minniecon, an Aboriginal Anglican pastor who organized the march and church
service for indigenous veterans, said he wanted to promote ties between black
and white communities on Anzac Day, one of Australia’s most revered holidays.
“To
us, this is about reconciliation, it is about recognition,” he said.
“These
were brothers in arms in those wars, and when they came back there was inequality.
We are just trying to bring that reconciliation back, and the respect and the
honor that these guys deserve.”
One of the
Aboriginal servicemen honored, Harry Allie, said he was “extremely
proud” of the march.
“I
think that it will inspire the young people coming through today,” said
Allie, who spent 23 years in the air force.
Despite
serving their country, Aboriginal servicemen and women returning home from WWI
and WWII did not have the same citizen rights as other Australians and were
unable to vote, own property, or marry a non-Aboriginal.
The
indigenous march was initially criticized by the main veterans group, the
Returned and Services League (RSL).
But
national president Bill Crews later said he supported the event, adding that
Aboriginal soldiers had served admirably since the first world war.
“It is
not in competition with the march in Sydney
and for that reason we are certainly not against it, indeed we support
it,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
“We
are now encouraging people to pay more attention to the very significant role
those servicemen and women have made over the years.”
Thousands
also attended dawn parades across New Zealand.
In Auckland, as a bugler sounded the Reveille, the crowd of
20,000 was told that playing it at the dawn service proclaimed the belief that
the landing of the Anzac troops at Gallipoli was the “dawn of nationhood
of New Zealand and Australia.”
In Wellington, former
secretary of defense Graham Fortune spoke of the sacrifices made by New Zealanders
and Australians and said the two countries needed to remember their shared
heritage.
“New Zealand and Australia gather to honor our men
and women who fought, suffered, and died,” he said.
“We
and Australia
have always worked together in war and peace. We must continue to do so.”
http://www.metimes.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20070425-042915-4290r