HIGHLANDERS will commemorate Anzac Day today.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The following poem was written by Graham Anderson in 2013 and was dedicated to Bundanoon veterans Arnold Sheedy and Noel Phillips:
On the 25th of April right across this ancient land
in every town or village, no matter small or grand
remembrance is accompanied by a military band
and old mates get together, often with a beer in hand.
ANZAC is a notion, a feeling, tip your lid
to the heroes come before
and for all those heroes did
Guarding here at home or on a far and foreign shore
If the fight was Pozires, Fromelles, or Palestine,
Gallipoli or Crete or indeed the Brisbane Line
World War I or II, they heard the Cooee Call
Afghanistan, Iraq - they've served in one and all
From St Kilda to Barcaldine, Louth and Wittenoom
Adelaide and Toodyay, Nyngan, Bundanoon
Each little town and hamlet gave up its very best
to the fiery forge of battle and to the alpha test
No matter where they served, they are heroes to us all
but in our little village now, that number is quite small
We asked of them, their all, in the gruesome task of war
and that they gave and gave again, who could ask for more?
If they march past now in wheelchairs
or in the front seat of a Jeep
Yet more a hero's welcome theirs
as one we cheer, both grateful, and gratefully we weep.