Today marks the 85th anniversary of Anzac Day, the start of the ill-fated campaign in Gallipoli on the Turkish Coast. 1500 Australians were landed, the first of almost 500,000 troops who were sent there over the next 4 months in one of the miserable failures of that miserable war. Moorehead's famous book, Gallipoli, recounts the sad story of how close this harebrained scheme came to early victory, and then ground down everyone into mincemeat associated with it. Of the 500,000 sent, 250,000 were wounded or killed. Like Vimy Ridge for Canadians, Gallipoli signified the moment when Australians and New Zealanders decided that the mother country was not the source of all wisdom. There is a service at Anzac Cove today, where a new memorial is being inaugurated...."And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda..."