The Anzac Spirit

24th April 2009

"Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13).

What does the word 'Anzac' really mean to this modern generation?

I believe we are in danger of losing much of our heritage in this nation. The words of John Williamson's song 'True Blue' seem to be proving chillingly accurate in modern Australia.

 Hey True Blue, don't say you've gone

Say you've knocked off for a smoko,

And you'll be back later on

Hey True Blue,

 

Give it to me straight, face to face

Are you really disappearing, Just another dying race,

Hey True Blue.

 

True Blue, is it me and you?

Is it Mum and Dad, is it a cockatoo?

Is it standing by your mate when he's in a fight?

Or will she be right?

True Blue, I'm asking you...

 

Hey True Blue, 'Is your heart still there?

If they sell us out like sponge cake, Do you really care?

Hey True Blue. True Blue, I'm asking you...  *

 

(* True Blue, written by John Willamson. Reproduced by permission of Emusic Pty Ltd)

 

The New Anzac Generation?

There is a Scripture in Micah 6:8 which I believe adequately sums up the Anzac Spirit. God Himself gives us the answer to the question asked, 'what is a man'. It says: "He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you. But to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?"

 1. 'To do justly'

Or as we would say in Aussie, 'fair go mate'. If anything sums up the spirit of the Aussie Digger it was to give everyone a fair go. This feature can be observed among the young Light Horsemen in their liberation of Jerusalem from hundreds of years of Muslim rule. I have spoken to Jews who were there at the time - or whose fathers were - and I've read countless books and articles on the subject. They all say the same thing. "No one treated us better than the Aussies!" 

 There was very little anti-Semitic spirit among our Anzac forefathers. Most of the European troops still suffered from strong anti-Jewish sentiments, but not the young Aussie Light Horsemen! "The Aussies ate with us, drank with us, shared with us, and lived with us. They treated us like equals!" Wrote one Jewish soldier who served with the Anzacs. Even captured enemy spoke favourably of their treatment at the hands of these young Diggers. To this day a bond still exists between the Aussies and their former Turkish enemies from WW1. The same thing is apparent in modern conflicts, Vietnam, Iraq, Timor etc. Former SAS commander Duncan Lewis summed up the compassion of the Anzacs this way;

 "I think the thing that sets the Australian soldier apart is humanity.

That's the most important thing. They're human beings and they treat other people that they come across, whether they be friend, or foe or neutral, as human beings. They've shown amazing degrees of compassion to those in need."
(The Spirit of the Digger).

  2. "To love mercy'.

As our Anzac Light Horsemen forefathers advanced deeper into the Holy Land, liberating the Jewish people from hundreds of years of Muslim control, a deep affection began to develop between them and the local Jewish population. These Aussies did not suffer from the same "class distinction" that dogged the British. Australians have always championed and firmly believed in looking out for the 'underdog'. H. S. Gullett writes in "The A.I.F. In Sinai and Palestine":

 "The unwarlike natives, and especially the Christian Copts, looked upon them (the Australian Light Horsemen) as defenders against the fierce raiders of the desert, and treated them with kindness and hospitality. When the time came for their withdrawal the villagers expressed sharp regret. 'Our children will remember the Australians in their prayers....'

Despite the barriers of blood and speech and faith, the Jews grew fond of these big Australians on their big horses, discovering that beneath their terrible aspect they were gentle and chivalrous young men with a clean, brave outlook and an unfailing respect for all that was good and just in life.... when the three regiments saddled up in the dawn, their lines were thronged with Jewish families, who were aware that fighting was ahead, and exaggerating in their timid minds the horrors of war, shed tears as they bade farewell to their favourite troopers, pressed upon them little parting gifts, and wished them God speed. Deeply and severely religious as many of these people were, there was something very moving in the blessings they invoked."  A special bond had developed between the Jewish soldiers and the Anzacs.

 Again let's go back to the story of the Light Horsemen. The young Anzac troopers were often touched and moved by compassion as to take some action.

One particular event that stands out in my mind was when the Anzac forces were being pushed back from Amman by the Turks. As the Australians entered the city the local Christian and Jewish population went wild with excitement, much to the disapproval of the local Arabs who watched the celebrations with sullen disdain.

When the Turks prevailed in a counter-attack and the Anzacs were being forced to withdraw, the Christians and Jews feared for their very lives and so began to pack what belongings they could carry and fled with the retreating Light Horsemen. The night was bitterly cold and wet; the road they followed was steep and narrow as well as being rough and flooded. The refugees, burdened down with their children and belongings, gradually began to drop behind the young Anzacs as regiment after regiment passed them by.

Gradually their anxiety and terror began to show as they contemplated being left behind to face the fury of their fanatical enemies.

 Many of these Light Horsemen were so visibly moved by their pitiful plight that they dismounted from their 'walers' and hoisted the Jewish women and children up into their saddles. These gallant young troopers, despite many being wounded and exhausted from battle and no sleep, allowed these refugees to ride their horses while they walked alongside.
That my friend is called 'mercy'!

 3. "To walk humbly'.

Another aspect that sums up the Anzac Spirit and the Aussie Digger is his humility. Australian uniforms are rarely gaudy, or given to the flashy types that some armies sport. Some nation's uniforms are smothered in brass and insignias with more ribbons and colours than a fruit salad. Even when it comes to acts of bravery Aussies are usually reluctant to take the credit, often insisting that they were just a part of a team, or it was "really my mates that should get the credit, not me."

It's a part of the Aussie bloke's 'psyche' not to big note oneself.

It's OK to big note someone else - just don't 'blow your own trumpet'.

 Courage Is Part Of The Anzac Spirit.

It's sad to say but most Australians are completely unaware of how courageous and effective our soldiers were. It was our Light Horsemen who were largely responsible for the liberation of Jerusalem from centuries of Muslim rule.But one of the most heroic achievements of our young Aussie Diggers was their magnificent efforts on the Kokoda Track in WW11. Japan had destroyed the powerful American fleet at Pearl Harbour - and conquered much of Asia - now suddenly the undefeated Japanese Army was right on our very doorstep. With most of our soldiers fighting in the Middle East the nation was vulnerable. All that stood between us and the horrors of invasion by the hitherto invincible Japanese were a few hundred young Aussie diggers. This story means a lot to me, my Uncle Alf Atkinson - my mother's brother was one of these young men - he won the Military Medal for bravery at the battle of Gona.

(Pic of the author's uncle - Alf Atkinson who won the Miltary Medal for 'Courage under fire' on Kokoda.)

 Despite what some would have us believe, the first defeat inflicted upon the Japanese land forces - who had swept down through Manchuria, Malaysia and Singapore - was not by Uncle Sam at all, but by Aussie 'Diggers' many of them militia. These were 17-18 year old young men who had never been trained in warfare or who had ever fired a shot in anger. Nicknamed 'chocos' - short for 'chocolate soldiers' as they thought that they would melt in the sun.
Patrick Lindsay wrote in 'The Spirit of Kokoda':

"The battle for the Kokoda Track is Australia's Alamo. If Gallipoli symbolizes the Anzac Spirit in WW1, then Kokoda is its WW11 equivalent...They died so young. They missed so much. They gave up so much:
their hopes, their dreams, and their loved ones. They laid down their lives that their friends might live. Greater love hath no man than this."

"These were not the tough campaigners of the AIF (regular army). In fact they were little more than kids. The average age was eighteen.Few had ever fired a shot; .They were a rag-tag lot the 39th, the rejects from many companies. There was a chap named Matt Binns - he only had one arm. The bugler had one arm too - he played a marvellous reveille. There was a chap with one eye and another one who was knock-kneed - he'd had polio when he was young. Our platoon leader was night-blind.They had joined up to defend their country..These young men were treated poorly (who had not slept in 3 days) withstood an onslaught of 1500 crack Japanese troops. In fact at one stage of the campaign only 110 young Aussies were all that stood between their loved ones in Australia and 6,000 merciless troops from the land of the Rising Sun.

 One young Aussie Digger wrote: "I prayed a lot. I believe in prayer. I knew my parents and grandparents were praying for me so that helped a lot. And, of course, I had my mates. When you have good friends, good mates you don't leave them. It was a brotherhood."

"We got a message from Port Moresby that ...we had to stay there and fight to the death. That was horrifying. I thought, 'Well, I won't see my family again, I won't see Australia again.' But I was prepared, like the rest of us, to stay there and fight to the finish."

"The mateship that bound these young Diggers together can be gauged by the actions of the walking wounded. After one ferocious battle, they heard their mates were still trapped at Isurava and in dire straits, everyone who physically could, turned around and struggled back up the track to the hell-hole from which they had just been delivered. Of the 30 wounded, only three couldn't make it back - one had lost his foot, one had a bullet in the throat and one had lost his forearm." ('The Spirit of Kokoda)

 The Japanese Were Impressed With The Young Aussies Bravery

Japanese soldier Shigenori Doi wrote:  "During  the  battle we advanced about 200 metres and I remember an Australian soldier, wearing just a pair of shorts, came running towards us throwing hand grenades. I remember thinking at the time this was something that would be very hard for a Japanese soldier to do. Even now, when I think about it, I'm affected by the memory of this warrior. I suppose the Australians had a different motivation for fighting, but this soldier, this warrior, was far braver than any in Japan. When I think about it now, it still affects me." (The Spirit of the
Digger) 

 What was the motivation, what turned these young 'teenagers' into courageous fighting men? Men who inflicted the first defeat on the hitherto invincible Japanese Army? To answer that question let me quote the young men's officer Phil Roden, from the book 'The Spirit of Kokoda',

"I'd like them to be remembered as a group of men who stood up to be counted when the chips were down, and who fought to save their country from what was deemed then to be a threat. And they didn't think twice about doing it. Some gave their lives doing it. I'd like them to be thought of as good parents, good fathers, good husbands and as good Australians who were there for the welfare of all people in Australia."

 Two things stood the young Anzacs in good stead, their great sense of humour under almost any circumstances and their great sense of "mateship". Let me quote Ion Idriess again as he relates about those magnificent Light Horsemen in "The Desert Column':

"No doubt we are a queer lot, a scatter-brained, laughing lot.  Last night, the whole crowd were trying to sing comic songs. They made the oasis hideous with choruses of the most idiotic songs I've ever heard ...But the dearest memory, the one that will linger until I die, is the comradeship of my mates, these men who laugh so harshly at their own hardships and sufferings, but whose smile is so tenderly sympathetic to other's pain."

 Many of the men formed bonds that lasted a lifetime. It was this mateship that resulted in a survival rate of almost twice that of other Allies. This quote from 'The Spirit of Kokoda' sums up mateship:

"I emphatically believe in looking after number one. But number one is not yourself - it's your best mate .....The feeling mateship gives you - when you are at the bottom of the barrel and along comes those mates of yours. Often they don't say anything, they just sit with you. It's like a husband and wife holding hands on one another's death beds - in time of crisis words aren't necessary."

 The Anzac spirit of mateship is something that has been part of the Australian male psyche since we became a nation. It shows the degree of respect for mateship that the Australian male still holds! Indeed Jesus Himself speaks of the spirit of mateship in this passage from the Gospel of John: "Greater love has no man than this, than to lay down one's life for a friend."

 This Anzac Day gives all Australians a chance to honour and acknowledge the debt we owe to our Anzac forefathers!