Message by the President ,RSA Samoa 2001
Distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Some eighty six years have passed since the very first ANZACs stood
their ground at Gallipolli Cove on Gallipolli and yet still we gather in this
day’s dawning light to commemorate and to celebrate , the sacrifices they made
for the principles and values that underpin our society and for the way of life
that we take so much for granted.
As returned Servicemen, we come together along with ANZACs the world over , to share our memories of comrades, our individual and collective realities learned through the harshness of war, but more , to share the deep sense of fellowship , only those who have seen active military service, who have lost friends and family can truly understand. For some of us , there will be reminders of scenes we would prefer to forget, acts of heroism and sacrifice to commended ,places and names we knew and will never forget –places such as Olympus ,the pass at Thermopylae,(ther mop pa lee) El Alamein, the Sangro,Monte Cassino, and Chunuk Bair
From these glorious beginnings , ANZACs have since seen duty in Vietnam
,Malaysia and Korea. In this new century , ANZACz join the global community to
police the rights of those rendered powerless by years of oppression in places
such as East Timor and Bougainville Island to name but a few. I note with great
pride that our own Samoan Police Force are also a part of the United Nations
effort in East Timor and by all accounts acquitted themselves honorably in
carrying our their duties. We wish them well on their next rotation.
Today I wish to present a challenge to each of you here present. While
you remember with thanksgiving and with honor those who have fought for freedom,
justice and peace; those who died and those who lived or live, with the physical
and emotional wounds of war, I challenge you to go a step further –let us
recommit ourselves, each individually, to the principles of freedom and justice.
Let us from the grassroots –our homes and our communities –become as
Peacekeepers, the like to which our ANZACz are today called. Let us in day life
lend every effort we can, to promote peace in and among our nation, and the
nations of the world.
Finally, I would like to close with the ANZAC
dedication for the fallen:
They
shall not grow old
As
we that are left grow old
Age
shall not weary them
At
the going down of the sun,
And
in the morning
We
will remember them.
We
will remember them
Soifua.