According to the New Zealand History website, no one knows who came up with the term Anzac. It is likely that Sergeant K.M. Little, a clerk in Birdwood's headquarters, thought of it for use on a rubber stamp: 'ANZAC' was convenient shorthand, and became the telegraph code word for the corps.
The Anzacs first saw action at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. The small cove where the Australian and New Zealand troops landed was quickly dubbed Anzac Cove. Soon the word was being used to describe all the Australian and New Zealand soldiers fighting on the Gallipoli Peninsula. Later it came to mean any Australian or New Zealand soldier.
Meanwhile, back in 2020 in Christchurch, I sleep through the 6am call. Instead I bake Anzac biscuits. Forgetting transmission guidelines, I offer them to members of the lane who gather to listen to Ed's bagpipe offering. He plays Amazing Grace and a Scottish tune traditionally heard at the end of battles. A few neighbours munch bikkies.
I go for a pre-lunch ride and mid-afternoon Chris and I pack a picnic then bike to Sherries. There's a nor wester and it's hot. We settle ourselves and consume. The stars come out and we wobble home. Not the normal Anzac but, over two of New Zealand's national beverages, beer and wine, and one or two from other parts of the world, rum and gin, we robustly debate who we are as Kiwis and where to next,
Covid update- 5 new cases, in the US Covid has now killed nearly as many people, 46,254, as service men and women killed in the Vietnam War, 58,220. The total number of deaths in this gruesome war was 1,353,000.
Covid update- 5 new cases, in the US Covid has now killed nearly as many people, 46,254, as service men and women killed in the Vietnam War, 58,220. The total number of deaths in this gruesome war was 1,353,000.
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Residents of Chrichton and Upper Chrichton Terrace  |
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