OT: This week in history...
 

On April 18, 1942, a rather famous Lieutenant Colonel led a squadron of 16
B-25B bombers on a raid. LTC James Doolittle led his squadron, lauched from the USS Hornet, on the first bombing mission over Japan.

Loaded down with gas for the long trip from the Hornet to airbases in China, the B-25s could not carry a heavy bomb load, damage was negligible at best. None of the aircraft made it to the airbases, one ended up in Russia and was interned. Eight of the Raiders were captured by the Japanese and three were executed for "war crimes against the Japanese people.

Derided sometimes as the "Do-Nothing Raid", the attack on Japan gave the Japanese Navy the push it needed to launch Operation MO, that would end in the their crushing defeat near a small atoll called Midway.

Salute and a raised glass to the Doolittle Raiders!

Today, the 25th of April marks the 96th anniversary of the landing at Gallipoli.
Over the next nine months or so, never have so many died in such a small area - one Australian offensive resulted in over 200 dead and approximately 130 wounded out of the 600 who took part, with every last one of them falling in an area no bigger than a tennis court. In another hotly fought engagement over just a few days, the dead were piled two, or even three metres high.

By the evacuation in January 1916 more than 120,000 men were dead from both sides. Almost nothing was gained.

Today we here in Australia and New Zealand remember the fallen, not just in that small strip of hell, but in all conflicts throughout the decades and all around the world.

Up until my discharge in 1995 I had the privilege of Cenotaph guard, each and every year. Although physically and emotionally draining, it's what I miss most from my time in the army. The dawn service, although short compared to the 11am, is, was, and always will be in my mind the most important. Unlike the latter service, only veterans tend to attend, soldiers who've fought, maybe been wounded, had their mates die beside them, and come out the other side.

"With the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them."

"Lest we forget."

:(

Most people don't know that the Royal Newfoundland Regiment of Canada, took part in the Gallipoli Campaign. After a period of acclimatization in Egypt, the regiment was deployed at Suvla Bay on the Gallipoli peninsula with the 29th British Division in support of the Gallipoli Campaign.

Suvla Bay was another story of incompetence with the leadership unable to realise the need to get the hell off the beaches and inland as far and as fast as they could. Instead they sat there for hours, waiting, waiting, waiting while the Turks were able to bring in reinforcements for the pitifully weak 4 battalions already stationed in the area.

I'm so very glad commissions in this day and age are given to those who have received the training to hold them, and not just handed out to those of social status!