ANZAC DAY DAWN SERVICE IN NAIROBI

They went with songs to the battle, they were young.

Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.

They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,

They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;

They sit no more at familiar tables of home;

They have no lot in our labor of the day-time;

They sleep beyond England's foam.

ANZAC Day is a pretty big day for Australians.

I am a very patriotic person, I tear up when Australian athletes win, I love hearing the national anthem, anything I see in Kenya on or about Australia my heart swells a little with pride and home sickness.  I am Australian and I am a proud Australian.  In saying that, I am calling Kenya home, it is my new country and I look forward to growing with and learning more about my new adopted land.  I will eventually become Kenyan-Australian and will be proud to call myself this even more.  I had never attended an ANZAC dawn service before.  Ever.  But there is something about being away from home that makes you that much more patriotic and with my newly found Aussie friends, Mr. and Mrs. Wrigley, I stayed the night at their place and we travelled to the Nairobi War Cemetery for the 2015 Anzac Dawn Service. 

What is Anzac Day?

Anzac Day – 25 April – is one of Australia’s most important national occasions. It marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War.  So what does ANZAC stand for?  ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. The soldiers in those forces quickly became known as Anzacs, and the pride they took in that name endures to this day.  When war broke out in 1914 Australia had been a federated nation for only 13 years, and the new federal government was eager to establish its reputation among the nations of the world. When Britain declared war in August 1914 Australia was automatically placed on the side of the Commonwealth. In 1915 Australian and New Zealand soldiers formed part of the expedition that set out to capture the Gallipoli peninsula in order to open the Dardanelles to the allied navies. The ultimate objective was to capture Constantinople (now Istanbul), the capital of the Ottoman Empire, an ally of Germany.

The Australian and New Zealand forces landed on Gallipoli on 25 April, meeting fierce resistance from the Ottoman Turkish defenders. What had been planned as a bold stroke to knock Turkey out of the war quickly became a stalemate, and the campaign dragged on for eight months. At the end of 1915 the allied forces were evacuated from the peninsula, with both sides having suffered heavy casualties and endured great hardships. More than 8,000 Australian soldiers had been killed. The Gallipoli campaign had a profound impact on Australians at home, and 25 April soon became the day on which Australians remembered the sacrifice of those who died in the war.  Although the Gallipoli campaign failed in its military objectives, the Australian and New Zealand actions during the campaign left us all a powerful legacy. The creation of what became known as the “Anzac legend” became an important part of the identity of both nations, shaping the ways they viewed both their past and their future.  In 1916, Anzac Day was held on 25 April for the first time. It was marked by a wide variety of ceremonies and services in Australia, a march through London, and a sports day in the Australian camp in Egypt.  During the 1920s Anzac Day became established as a national day of commemoration for the more than 60,000 Australians who had died during the war. In 1927, for the first time, every state observed some form of public holiday on Anzac Day.  People always ask why have a dawn service?  Why so early?  It is often suggested that the Dawn Service observed on Anzac Day has its origins in a military routine still followed by the Australian Army. The half-light of dawn was one of the times most favored for launching an attack. Soldiers in defensive positions were woken in the dark before dawn, so by the time first light crept across the battlefield they were awake, alert, and manning their weapons; this is still known as the “stand-to”. As dusk is equally favorable for battle, the stand-to was repeated at sunset.

It was a 6am service and we were a few minutes late.  There was a lot of security around, I guess there were some important diplomats attending and after the car was checked, and driving past armed security walking the perimeter, we found a park and walked a distance to the entrance.  I have driven past the Nairobi War Cemetery many times but had never taken the time to visit.  It was an amazing tranquil place and you could almost forget that you were even in Kenya, the lawns were beautifully manicured, the birds were chirping and the tombstones were immaculately kept.  The war cemetery was opened in 1941 by the military authorities. Besides the original burials, numerous graves were transferred to this cemetery from African civil cemeteries and temporary army burial grounds at Garissa, Gelib, Kinangop, Marsabit, Mega and other inaccessible places, so that it is now the largest war cemetery in East Africa.  The Nairobi War Cemetery now contains over 2,000 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, 11 of which are unidentified. There are also 80 non-war burials and one French grave.  The cemetery also contains the Nairobi Memorial which commemorates 477 men of the United Kingdom, South African, and East African Forces who died in the non-operational zones of Kenya whilst in training, or on lines of communication or garrison duty, and whose graves could not be located or are so situated as to be un-maintainable.

When we arrived we were given a program and a small candle wrapped in a serviette (to stop the wax drip), a sprig of rosemary (which was found growing wild all over the Gallipoli peninsular in 1915) and then we found a spot to stand as the service had already started.  There would have been over 300 people that had turned up to commemorate our Australian soldiers.  We had missed the welcome speech from the new Australian Ambassador, the address from the Turkish Ambassador, call to prayer and a hymn.  The rest of the programme followed with another hymn, wreath laying from Diplomatic, Defence and community representatives (which took a good 25 minutes as around 15 countries paying their respects individually), a poem was read, the Last Post, which always gives me a shiver and an emotional jerk, one minutes silence, reveille, the flag raising of the Kenyan, Australian and New Zealand flag and finally the national anthems of all three countries was played.  It was a wonderful service and I am totally glad and proud that I got up at 5am for this experience.  Especially as it was my first ANZAC Day Dawn Service, EVER.  It was kind of special to attend one in my newly adopted country.

After the ceremony finished, we took our time walking around the graves, reading about these some young and some old comrades who fought in wars over the years from all over the world.  We then made our way to where breakfast was being served in a large white marquee that had a few table and chairs and tall cocktail tables.  We were waiting in a very long queue that we thought was for the food when we were told that was the coffee line, we side stepped that line and there were trays of 5 inch baguettes with fillings of omelet, bacon and cheese or plain egg, wrapped.  There were also trays of finger lamingtons, ANZAC biscuits and piklets and it was a great way to finish a great service and a great start to the day.  I’m always a proud Australian, but when you attend event like these it just makes you want to set your shoulders back, pump out your chest and scream to the world what a wonderful country Australia is.  I can definitely tell you this; I will be back next year, and for many more years after that.      

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly 
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, 

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.