G'day Barry,

Thanks for the story. I can just see Eric as a daft young Scots git, fresh out from Peebles - trying to down a cold (!!!) beer in the RSL (Returned Servicemen's League) at sundown when the lights all went out - except the globe in the yellow glass flame high on the wall - and just before the PA intoned "... they will not grow old as other grow old ...at the going down of the sun ... we will remember them".

The RSL is not only an established social centre for the wartime generation(s) but a well-established political force in Australia. The celebration of Anzac Day (from Australia New Zealand Army Corps) is the holiest day of the year to them. This was (until recently)the only secular holiday which was not allowed to be shifted to the nearest Monday or Friday to give one of the long weekends beloved of Aussies.

As you noted, it does commemorate the first engagement of Australasian troops under their own commenders. It was also the first for Australians as a nation (the Sudan and the Boer War were in our colonial period, before Federation in 1901). My mail of 8 July refers to the powerful effect of the Government's promotion of an heroic image of the ANZAC landing at Gallipoli (which was in fact a defeat - and one at which the British authorities shamelessly used troops they still considered "colonial" as cannon fodder to make life easier for their own men).

Many veterans simply could not talk about their experiences unless they followed the accepted, heroic line. Anything else got them branded as cowards or slackers - until the Vietnam War educated us all (not just those in the thick of it) to the real horrors of war.

Eric's song was very controversial and its realism was not welcomed by those who wanted to keep their noble notions of dying for your country. I think that those who did know - the real soldiers - quickly realised the truth of the song ... certainly it was an incredible success (and flogged to death). I just find 'No Man's Land' more comfortable because it comes from an observer, not a victim.

Thanks again,

Bob Bolton