Lest We Forget

The Gallipoli campaign was failure, 1 in 5 of the NZ force were killed, 1 in 3 were wounded. 100 years later its easy for the historians to look back & say that the campaign show cased the Kiwi attitude & attributes & helped define us as a nation but the truth is 130,842 young men from both sides lost their lives in vain. When you read the personal stories from our troops it was just a total balls up. Imagine this, the casualties we so high & the stench from the dead so bad, both sides agreed to a cease fire so they could attempt to bury their dead. Sometimes I think we overlook that the ‘enemy’ almost lost twice the number of men ‘we’ did.
When you look at the numbers – maybe, just maybe, today’s ‘smart’ wars are not all bad.

If your on the water today, raise your glass to the 14,000 Kiwis that climbed into those little boats & rowed ashore. And for the 2,779 that had a one way ticket, raise your glass again 😉

Devonport, Auckland. Photo Libby Houghton