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Originally Posted by Catfish

I am all for not forgetting the past, also Happy Anzac day. Never forget, it is all propaganda.

And then, Gallipoli. I guess you have to be happy your colonies joined, however i would see this a bit different, especially if i had been treated like the US and Australia, before.

(now ducking for incoming bullets )

Originally Posted by Torplexed

No, not really I'm sure that's a common viewpoint. .

In any case it certainly can't hurt to place some poppies in remembrance.

It's also very big for our Turkish allies and friends; LTCOL Kemal Mustapha Atatürk, the opposing commander-wounded at Gallipoli- said it best perhaps, and well ahead of his time. This bond between the ordinary soldiers and sailors who fought at Gallipoli was well expressed by the (later) President of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk:

"There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us
Where they lie side by side
Here in this country of ours." ‘Anzac’ Lieutenant Oliver Hogue wrote almost in response:

"I reckon the Turk respects us, as we respect the Turk;
Abdul’s a good, clean fighter – we’ve fought him, and we know." An account of the strange mutual respect and courtesy of the Gallipoli trenches: "Anyway, near daybreak one morning there came out of their trench at Quinn’s a packet tied to a string, thrown so it lobbed near our parapet and lay outside between the trenches. Of course, our sentries waited for it to explode or fizz or burst into smoke or some such devilry. The sergeant near it looked at it very carefully through a telescope. While he was looking Turkish hands must have come up and waved and then a cautious head. A head our side went up too, and gradually a line of heads on each parapet; and before the sergeant knew what was happening the man next him had climbed up on to the parapet and stepped round the netting and into the deadly area between the trenches and was bringing back the packet. It was a small packet of cigarettes. In it, scrawled in indelible pencil and in badly spelt French, were the words, “A Notre Herox Ennemis” ( To our heroic enemies ). “Bully beef non.” Of course some return had to be made, and so our men threw over a tin or two of bully beef. Presently back flew a piece of paper wrapped round a stone. It read “Bully beef non.” After that we threw some sweet biscuits and a tin of jam. Other cigarettes came back. I have seen some of them. They had on them the same penciled writing, “Notre Cher Enemi” or “Femez – probably meant for “Prenez – A Vee Plessir”: that is, “To our dear enemy – “Take with pleasure”; another reads :Envoyez Milk” (“Send us milk”). Then one of them waved down with his hands and shouted “Fini”. And our men waved back, and down gradually went the two lines of smiling heads, and after a pause of a minute or two the bombs began to fly again. They had begun at half-past 8 and they lasted until about a quarter past 9."
<The Atatürk Aniti (Memorial) at Conkbayiri, Gallipoli. Kemal's whip can be clearly seen behind his back. The concrete balls on the ground in front of the memorial mark the spot where Kemal was hit by shrapnel