General Chat

"LEST WE FORGET"

Very emotional day when you see the Diggers marching.
They never forget what they and their departed pals went through

God Bless them all

Jackie


WE ARE AUSTRALIANS
I came from the dreamtime
From the dusty red-soil plains
I am the ancient heart
The keeper of the flames
i Stood upon the rocky shore
I watched the tall ships come
For fourty thousand years i've been the first australian

I came upon the prison ships
Bound down by iron chains
I cured the land
Endured the lash
And waited for the rains
I'm a settler
I'm a farmers wife
On a dry and barron run
A convict and a free man
I became Australian

Im a daughter of a digger
Who sought the mother load
The girl became a women
On the long and dusty road
Im a child of the depression
I saw the good time come
Im a bushy im a battler
I am australian

Chourus:

we are one
but we are many
and from all the lands on earth we come
we'll share a dream
and sing with one voice
i am, you are, we are australian

Im a teller of stories
Im a singer of songs
i am Albert namajera
and i paint the ghostly gums
im clancy on his horse
Im ned kelly on the run
Im the one who waltzed matilda
I am australian

im the hot wind from the desert
im the black soil of the plain
im the mountains and the valleys
im the drowned and flooding rains
i am the rock
i am the sky
the rivers when they run
the spirit of this great land
i am australian

I've just seen this post, thankyou for the words to the ode Ingrid. My 12yr old marched last year with her school for her great grandfather, an ANZAC in France. I bought replica medals for our family becasue we don't know where his are. She couldn't march this year but next year will be there with the replica medals on in honour of her great grandfather. He died when his daughter was five, she never knew her father, her son (my husband) never knew his grandfather, in this way we can honour him and his sacrifices.
Alison

We must never forget and we should tell future generations about the enormous sacrifice made by so many across the world.

My thoughts this Anzac day to those from the other side of the world who lost their lives to give us all freedom.

Berona I find that too.

RIP all you brave boys

We will remember them

.

When I was a young man I carried me pack
And I lived the free life of the rover
From the Murray's green basin to the dusty outback
I waltzed my Matilda all over
Then in 1915 my country said: Son,
It's time to stop rambling, there's work to be done
So they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun
And they sent me away to the war

And the band played Waltzing Matilda
When the ship pulled away from the quay
And amid all the tears, flag waving and cheers
We sailed off for Gallipoli

It well I remember that terrible day
When our blood stained the sand and the water
And how in that hell they call Suvla Bay
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter
Johnny Turk, he was ready, he primed himself well
He rained us with bullets, and he showered us with shell
And in five minutes flat, we were all blown to hell
He nearly blew us back home to Australia

And the band played Waltzing Matilda
When we stopped to bury our slain
Well we buried ours and the Turks buried theirs
Then it started all over again

Oh those that were living just tried to survive
In that mad world of blood, death and fire
And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive
While around me the corpses piled higher
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head
And when I awoke in me hospital bed
And saw what it had done, I wished I was dead
I never knew there was worse things than dying

Oh no more I'll go Waltzing Matilda
All around the green bush far and near
For to hump tent and pegs, a man needs both legs
No more waltzing Matilda for me

They collected the wounded, the crippled, the maimed
And they shipped us back home to Australia
The armless, the legless, the blind and the insane
Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla
And when the ship pulled into Circular Quay
I looked at the place where me legs used to be
And thank Christ there was no one there waiting for me
To grieve and to mourn and to pity

And the Band played Waltzing Matilda
When they carried us down the gangway
Oh nobody cheered, they just stood there and stared
Then they turned all their faces away

Now every April I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me
I see my old comrades, how proudly they march
Renewing their dreams of past glories
I see the old men all tired, stiff and worn
Those weary old heroes of a forgotten war
And the young people ask "What are they marching for?"
And I ask myself the same question

And the band plays Waltzing Matilda
And the old men still answer the call
But year after year, their numbers get fewer
Someday, no one will march there at all

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me?
And their ghosts may be heard as they march by the billabong
So who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me?

Nudging this thread up, it's important we never forget but remember ALL the brave young men and women who have fought and are still fighting for world peace.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young.
Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady & aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with faces to the foe

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them

LEST WE FORGET


Remembering all those that have gone to the battle and those that are still there.

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