Anzac Day

Today, April 25th, is Anzac Day, a national holiday here to commemorate the first major military action of members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps during World War I.

Over 8,000 Australian and 2,700 New Zealand soldiers died at the battle of Gallipoli in Turkey. For the duration of the war, total losses were over 60,000 for Australia and 18,000 for New Zealand. Given the small population of both countries - Australia had less than 5 million, New Zealand had less than 1.2 million - such losses were enormous. A comparable loss today in the United States would be 3.6 MILLION dead.

Since World War II, Anzac Day has been to commemorate the lives of Australians and New Zealanders lost in that war as well, and all wars since then. There are no longer any living veterans of the first World War, and those from the second World War are all now well over 80 years of age.

It is a solemn day, with nearly all offices and shops closed. Marches of veterans and their families are held in every suburb and city. Here is some reporting of it:

ABC News
SBS News

Maybe one day we'll figure it out.