Anzac Day not a celebration but commemoration Martin O’Meara VC served bravely in Australian and New Zealand Army Corps
about 3 hours ago Gary Gray
Tipperary native Martin O’Meara: “During four days of very heavy fighting he repeatedly went out and brought in wounded officers and men from ‘No Man’s Land’ under intense artillery and machine gun fire.”
In July 2020, I visited the Australian Army Museum of Western Australia at Fremantle. A terrific facility, it holds machines, materials, medals and awards including the Victoria Cross ) awarded to Irish-born Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (Anzac) sergeant Martin O’Meara, currently on loan to the National Museum of Ireland in Collins Barracks, Dublin.
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More than 2 million people in the state of Western Australia began their first full day of a snap three day lockdown on Saturday, after a coronavirus outbreak in a hotel quarantine facility led to community transmission.
Everything that can be done in hotel quarantine needs to be done right now
Omar Khorshid, Australian Medical Association
People in the state capital Perth and the neighbouring Peel region have been asked to stay home except for essential work, and medical and shopping purposes.
Ceremonies to honour Australia s military personnel on the Anzac Day holiday on Sunday have been cancelled. Last year, the coronavirus pandemic forced most traditional memorials to be cancelled across Australia for the first time in decades.
5 things to know about Anzac Day
Australians and New Zealanders press pause to mark Anzac Day on 25 April every year. Here are five things you need to know
1. Anzac is an acronym
A memorial site on Gallipoli Peninsula, Turkey (Shutterstock)
Anzac Day originally paid homage to soldiers of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (Anzac) who fought and died in 1915 in Gallipoli, Turkey, during the First World War. The Anzacs had planned to take control of the Gallipoli Peninsula so the Allied forces – which included Britain, France, the Russian Empire, Italy and Japan – could capture Constantinople (now Istanbul), the capital of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire had sided with Germany, Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria.