Tomorrow (April 26) is ANZAC Day in Australia and New Zealand, a day that commemorates the tens of thousands of Australian and New Zealand soldiers who died in the battle of Gallipoli, Turkey, in 1915 and early 1916.
|The Australian cemetery at Lone Pine, Gallipoli, Turkey|
- The United Kingdom and Ireland suffered 73,486 casualties.
- Australia: 28,150.
- France, 27,000 dead and wounded.
- New Zealand: 7,991.
- India 4,4479.
- Newfoundland: 142.
- Allies: 141,457.
- Ottoman Empire: 251,309.
- Total dead: 130,842.
- Total wounded: 262,014.
- Total casualties on both sides: 392,856
This battle was one of great historic significance, as it laid the groundwork for the Turkish war of
|An Ottoman Turkish cemetery at Gallipoli|
I am glad we stopped at the Turkish cemetery. Although the Ottoman Empire, of which the country that was to become Turkey in 1923 was a part, was the enemy of the Allied forces in World War I, and although I don't know Turkish and therefore was unable to read the words on the memorial wall, I didn't need to understand Turkish to read the names engraved on the markers, or to see how young most of the soldiers were. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to visit these sites, to learn about them first-hand and to pay my respects to some of those who died there. It was a sobering experience even 100 years after the battle that robbed so many of their futures.
What struck me most was the realization that these thousands of young men, no matter their country of origin, left behind families who mourned them. They were somebody's son, husband, brother or father. Turkish, French, Indian or Australian, their families would never see them or talk to them again. Many were buried in unmarked graves, or they were buried at sea. Most were very young.
Nearly 400,000 young men were killed or wounded during the battle of Gallipoli. The Ottoman Turks held onto the land that cost so many lives, and the Allied attempt to defeat the Ottoman Empire failed to knock the empire out of the war. One hundred years later, does this battle really matter?
ANZAC Day is a major holiday in Australia and New Zealand. Groups of Turkish soldiers visited the Turkish cemetery when I was there. Turkey is hosting a high-level commemoration today, attended by Britain's Prince Charles and the president of Turkey, among others. I am saddened by the loss of life, the slaughter, that took place at Gallipoli, but heartened to see that the sacrifices of the soldiers who fought and died in Gallipoli -- on both sides of the battle -- have not been forgotten. May all who fought and died there rest in peace.