Good morning ladies and gentlemen. I am Albert George McGuire, Captain of the first Australian infantry battalion. On the 25th April 1915, we arrived in the port of Dardanelles. Part of the D squadron, we sailed up to the shore. I could tell that all the blokes were excited, and so was I. This had been my first time in a real ambush. My mate, Arthur Selman, sat next to me gripping his gun. I clearly remember his ghostly white knuckles reflecting the dim moonlight. Then they started shooting at us. Under the command of Lieutenant Colonel L Dobbin, we pushed through. Bullets whipped past us, piercing our skin. It was by chance that I had made it to land. We immediately faced cliffs 10 times the size of a man, and in some places as steep as a …show more content…
Bully beef was the staple food, and even that was rationed. Every morning, men were sent down to the cliff to collect water from the ships. Medical supplies were limited; I had been lucky that they had managed to get the bullet out. The grimmest part of all this would be the morning roll call. There would always be soldiers who didn’t reply. We all knew what became of them. On the 6th of august, we made an offensive attack on the Turkish trenches. At 5:30am, we climbed over no-man’s land. Instead of climbing into the trenches, the Turks had covered their trenches in a thick log roof. Together as mates, we pulled apart the roof by hand. The Turks emerged and this resulted in hand to hand combat. In the midst of the battle, I felt overwhelmed with the close-proximity of the battle. The Turks were pushed back. It was a victory for us, but that couldn’t make up for the lives of my mates which were lost in the battle of Lone Pine. In early December 1915, we evacuated form Anzac cove. I didn’t know how to feel knowing that we would be leaving the unburied behind, yet I was relieved that this ordeal was over. The dawn of 19th December, my footsteps echoed down the empty trenches. I was one of the last few to
With unforgiving terrain and the seemingly never ending destruction, the environment of war can be the biggest challenge faced. The constant presence of death and the savage actions of men, the jungle and villages of Vietnam that was home to many families can become a nightmare within days. The book says, “I walked away. People were not supposed to be made like that. People were not supposed to be twisted bone and tubes that popped out at crazy kid’s-toys angles.
Australian’s are prideful of past endeavours in war and celebrate this twice a year in ANZAC day on the 25th of April and Remembrance Day on the 11th of November. They celebrate this because the war represented the ultimate from the mateship. A prime example of this was the battle of Gallipoli, were the Australian soldiers (diggers)
The water roared in his ears like the voice of Niagara, yet he heard the dulled thunder of the volley and, rising again toward the surface, met shining bits of metal, singularly flattened, oscillating slowly downward. Some of them touched him on the face and hands, then fell away, continuing their descent. One lodged between his collar and neck; it was uncomfortably warm and he snatched it out. As he rose to the surface, gasping for breath, he saw that he had been a long time under water; he was perceptibly farther downstream nearer to safety. The soldiers had almost finished reloading; the metal ramrods flashed all at once in the sunshine as they were drawn from the barrels, turned in the air, and thrust into their sockets.
Life during the Gallipoli campaign defiantly had a major impact on the soldiers
The war was being so heavily fought and thousands of soldiers died daily, leaving the military always in need of men for the cause. Due to the military’s haste, many men were sent out without proper training. Some of these men were sent out to sea without any knowledge of how to swim. These men were set to fail by their own country in military due to the lack of detail and preciseness put into the training and education of these men for life at sea.
What is the Anzac Spirit or Legend? Is it important to future generations? Anzac characteristics are in no doubt displayed by Australian and New Zealand defence force personnel and these qualities should be taught to future generation. Arthur Bourke stated that the Anzac Spirit is a sensation that can only be felt, in one’s innermost soul, every Australian and New Zealander can nurture this intense patriotism (Australian War Memorial 2017, ‘Anzac Spirit’, p.2). Throughout my speech I will highlight the Anzac Spirit’s importance for future generation ought to include, the Sacrifices made by men and women, Anzac Day Traditions, Australia’s Identity and the Qualities of the Anzac Spirit.
In the weeks after the 1st Marines’ campaign on Guadalcanal—when naval lines were secure enough to fill supply needs to the rear, but not sufficient as yet to meet the needs of the Marines on the front—Leckie details one instance where he and a fellow soldier snuck to the rear and crawled into the food dump in search of anything edible to take back to their comrades. While Leckie weaves a likeable story of cat-and-mouse with those set as guard to the food dump, the story does not overlook the dire situation of the Marines on the frontline, who had subsisted for weeks on worm-ridden rice taken from Japanese soldiers killed in
But in the middle of the night, I heard a distressing cry. Quickly I arose, fearful that the enemy was among us. The cry came again, but this time it sounded like my commander saying, “Alas! Woe, woe!”
This chapter “The Ghost Soldiers”, showed us how Tim O’Brien and the other soldiers were dealing with the war both physically and psychologically. It also shows us how the Tim O'Brien behaved and felt when he was shot, wounded and had a bacteria infection on his butt and how the war changed the way he thought, and viewed the other soldiers around him. This chapter also contain a lot of psychological lens. From the way Tim O’Brien felt when he was shot and separated from his unit to a new unit to when he wanted revenge on Bobby Jorgenson for almost “killing” him.
The wounded had to walk long treks as they were no stretchers and medical help. The track was dreadful and painful. The soldiers encountered many wild rat. The rats were wild and carried diseases that were passed on the soldiers and lead to death or, many were seriously
To fully understand the importance of D-Day one must understand the battle from all aspects. As all of America knows D-Day, or “Operation Overlord”, was executed on June 6th, 1944. However, this was not the initial set date. Originally, the set date was for May
I let myself drop into the unknown. ’’[3] This insight gives the reader an idea of what psychological changes happen to the man in the suit. It is the very self-confidence and assurance that keeps the men fighting and hardens them to adapt to the cruel conditions of the war.
Over all, this story allows us to observe changes within the mentalities of army officers. First, the trauma of living in a war zone can add a significant amount of intangible weight into someone’s life. In “The Things They Carried,” we discover that Cross’s men “carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die (443).” Given that the majority of humans have experienced some form of trauma, we can understand how some men were driven to suicide and others into
“Imagine yourself in the pitch dark, after two or three days of wet, cold, hunger, sleeplessness, staggering down a trench, knee-deep in mud, carrying various burdens that almost equal your own body-weight” (Ellis, 48). This was the everyday life of the typical soldier involved in the World War I trench warfare. During WWI trench warfare was common. It began in September 1914 with the German army digging themselves in for a battle that would last what seemed like a life time for the soldiers involved. Soldiers on either side alike lived in deplorable conditions.
The day went by surprisingly quickly. I did long tiring drills while standing in the hot sun. The more I thought and dreaded the battle, the faster it came. Before I realized, I was standing in the front lines ready to fire away. However, before I blindly shot at my enemies, something painful stopped me.