A letter from the front

In 1915, Australian nurse Elsie was working at a medical facility in the North African country whose capital is Cairo. One afternoon, a wounded soldier arrived from Gallipoli, a peninsula in what is now Türkiye. He told her that Australian and New Zealand troops had landed there on 25 April. The landing was part of a campaign to gain control of the Dardanelles, a narrow waterway. The steep ground and strong Ottoman defence made the fighting extremely difficult. After months of fighting, the Allied forces withdrew. They had not achieved their military goal, and many people had been killed or wounded. Elsie wrote home: “The men look after one another as best they can. They share what little they have, and help a mate who is frightened or hurt.” The word “mate” was familiar in Australia, but the soldiers’ care for one another became closely linked with the idea of mateship. Courage and mateship did not make the campaign a victory, but they became important parts of how Australians remembered it. The combined corps was known by a five-letter abbreviation. In Australia, 25 April became a day to remember those who served and died in wars. It is called ANZAC Day. The day is not a celebration of the Gallipoli campaign as a win; it is a time for remembrance and reflection.