Australia, New Zealand honor war verterans

(REUTERS)

SYDNEY --  Thousands of people in Australia and New Zealand held services Wednesday to honor their war veterans on a national holiday, including a march to remember oft-forgotten black soldiers who served reports Madeleine Coorey of AFP in the Middle East Times of April 25, 2007.

Anzac Day marks the start of the grueling World War I battle of Gallipoli, in which thousands of Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (Anzac) soldiers died, and which now honors all those who served in wartime.

More than 10,000 people crowded the Australian War Memorial in Canberra for a dawn service and some 20,000 lined Sydney streets to cheer a veterans' parade.

The parade was led by two riderless horses to symbolize the passing of all Australian veterans from the Boer and first world wars.

Meanwhile, a small number of indigenous ex-servicemen led about 300 supporters through the streets of inner-city Redfern, Sydney's Aboriginal heartland, to the applause of scores of onlookers.

"It brings tears to my eyes," said retired Chief Petty Officer David Williams, a navy submariner who spent 29 years in the military.

"It is a thank you and that is all a digger [soldier] requires whether they are black, white, or brindle."

About 500 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders were involved in World War I and as many as 5,000 in World War II, but they received little or no recognition and faced racism and inequality when they returned home.

Ray Minniecon, an Aboriginal Anglican pastor who organized the march and church service for indigenous veterans, said he wanted to promote ties between black and white communities on Anzac Day, one of Australia's most revered holidays.

"To us, this is about reconciliation, it is about recognition," he said.

"These were brothers in arms in those wars, and when they came back there was inequality. We are just trying to bring that reconciliation back, and the respect and the honor that these guys deserve."

One of the Aboriginal servicemen honored, Harry Allie, said he was "extremely proud" of the march.

"I think that it will inspire the young people coming through today," said Allie, who spent 23 years in the air force.

Despite serving their country, Aboriginal servicemen and women returning home from WWI and WWII did not have the same citizen rights as other Australians and were unable to vote, own property, or marry a non-Aboriginal.

The indigenous march was initially criticized by the main veterans group, the Returned and Services League (RSL).

But national president Bill Crews later said he supported the event, adding that Aboriginal soldiers had served admirably since the first world war.

"It is not in competition with the march in Sydney and for that reason we are certainly not against it, indeed we support it," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

"We are now encouraging people to pay more attention to the very significant role those servicemen and women have made over the years."

Thousands also attended dawn parades across New Zealand.

In Auckland, as a bugler sounded the Reveille, the crowd of 20,000 was told that playing it at the dawn service proclaimed the belief that the landing of the Anzac troops at Gallipoli was the "dawn of nationhood of New Zealand and Australia."

In Wellington, former secretary of defense Graham Fortune spoke of the sacrifices made by New Zealanders and Australians and said the two countries needed to remember their shared heritage.

"New Zealand and Australia gather to honor our men and women who fought, suffered, and died," he said.

"We and Australia have always worked together in war and peace. We must continue to do so."

http://www.metimes.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20070425-042915-4290r