Lest we forget

This week, I am sharing my experience of being at Hellfire Pass in Kanchanaburi for the ANZAC Day Dawn Service.  ANZAC stands for the "Australia and New Zealand Army Corps".  

On 25th April, in 1915, the joint forces of our two nations landed at Gallipoli in Turkey, to embark on what became our first combined campaign in war.  Historically, it turned out to be a disastrous campaign with heavy losses and no chance of winning the battle.  However, defeat was not the end of the story, for courage and camaraderie in the face of great adversity won the day.  This became known as the Spirit of the ANZAC, with Gallipoli becoming the defining moment for the founding narrative of what it means to be an Aussie and a Kiwi. 

So April 25th became the day when we remember our war dead and all those who fought, served and suffered in defence of our peoples and beliefs.  

Hellfire Pass is the ANZAC memorial in Thailand, for here is a particularly harsh section of the railway built by the Japanese during World War II, using Prisoner of War and Asian slave labour, of whom ANZACs were a part.  This place stands as a living memory to how cruel we as humanity can be to our own kind.  But more importantly, it stands as a living memory to the strength and courage of the human spirit in the face of all adversity, ultimately winning the day.   

The experience of the day overcame me emotionally, an experience that made me deeply reflect on what it truly means to be human in the sight of God and our fellow men and women.  Lest we forget!  May peace ever reign for all!