Australia, New Zealand to mark ANZAC Day in Manila

The governments of Australia and New Zealand will jointly commemorate in Manila the centenary of their first major military action in World War I, where thousands of their troops fought and died.

 

ANZAC Day remembers the Gallipoli landing and subsequent battles involving Australia and New Zealand Army Corps since they first landed on the Turkish peninsula of the Ottoman Empire on April 25, 1915.

 

“The courage, resilience and mateship they have shown has had a lasting influence on our national character, and what has become known as the ‘ANZAC spirit,’” Australian Ambassador to Manila Bill Tweddell told a press conference.

 

ANZAC Day, he said, also pays tribute to the service and sacrifice of Australian service men and women across all wars and peacekeeping nations.

 

The Australian and New Zealand memorial, Tweddell noted, is a similar spirit of pride and nationalism experienced by the Philippines during its Day of Valor every April 9, which honors the greatness and sacrifices of Filipino fighters during World War II for the defense of Bataan.

 

“It is the Anzac spirit of ‘mateship’ that underpins and fuels the deep-rooted and broad-based relationship between Australia and the Philippines, a shared value similarly manifested in the Filipino concept of bayanihan,” said Tweddell.

 

A day dawn service will be held at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Fort Bonifacio at 5:30 a.m. on April 25 and will be attended by members of the Australian and New Zealand communities, and the Turkish ambassador.

 

British, French and Indian Armed Forces will be representing their respective countries which joined the 1915 Dardanelles Campaign where they were defeated by the Turks in an attempt to open a passage for aid to Russia.

 

Members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police will likewise join the service, Tweddell said, adding the event is open to the public who wish to acknowledge the fallen of Australia and New Zealand.

 

“As we commemorate a seminal time in our nationhood and ponder the loss of many thousands of cherished sons of Australia, New Zealand and Turkey, we should reflect on the horrors of war and the enormously destructive forces of nationalism and militarism which sadly are all too common today,” Tweddell said.

 

“The ANZAC spirit lives on today as we seek to forge a just international order that respects democracy, human rights, religious tolerance and peaceful means of conflict resolution.” — Michaela del Callar/JDS, GMA News