Saturday 25 April 2015

Prince Charles Pays Tribute To Gallipoli Dead

Prince Charles has taken part in a dawn service in Turkey to mark the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli campaign – one of the bloodiest events of World War One.

The prime minister of Australia, Tony Abbott, and New Zealand premier John Key also addressed the crowd of 10,000 - made up mainly of their fellow countrymen.
The service coincided with the moment the first amphibious assault was launched exactly a century ago.
Around 58,000 Allied troops were killed in the eight-month slaughter, including 29,500 from Britain and Ireland, over 12,000 from France, 11,000 from Australia and New Zealand and 1,500 from India.
An estimated 87,000 Turks also died defending their home soil.
Prince Charles read a moving letter written by a soldier to his wife on the eve of Gallipoli and paid tribute to "all those who served and suffered in this faraway place on the other side of the world from the Antipodes".
Australians and New Zealanders, many wearing brightly-coloured Anzac clothing and woolly hats, huddled together overnight to wait for the ceremony to start.
Anzac Day is an important annual event in the two countries but does not have a high profile in the UK, despite tens of thousands of British deaths.
Australian PM Tony Abbott said the sacrifice and bravery of the fallen Anzac troops (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) was an inspiration.
"They did their duty, now let us do ours; they gave us an example, now let us be worthy of it.
"They were as good as they could be in their time, no let us be as good as we can be in ours."


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