The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #110390   Message #4170907
Posted By: Vincent Jones
26-Apr-23 - 05:48 PM
Thread Name: thoughts on 'And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda'
Subject: RE: thoughts on 'And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda'
Gallipoli is glorified more and more with every passing year.

Where I grew up in Lancashire (the Lancashire Fusiliers played their part - six VCs and 1,600 Fusiliers in Turkish graves) the survivors would, by and large, see it in Mr Campbell's terms, with a bit of harsh sentiment about how wars turn working men against each other, whatever their language, religion or colour of their uniform.

Then in the 1980s I read how, instead of Mr Campbell's views presiding, it was now (due to Weir's film "Gallipoli") about how the plucky Anzacs fought and died whilst the British soldiers sat around drinking tea (tea drinking note - though every single life lost there was an utter tragedy, three times as many British soldiers died than Anzacs - and over a third of Anzacs were British born - but far fewer than the 56,000 Turks who died defending their land - the unofficial figure is almost 170,000).

In the 1990s I remember how it became fashionable for Anzac Day to be reported in Australian tabloids showing how hoons get rat-arsed and piss and vomit on the Gallipoli battlefields.

I would not be surprised if, after the current glorification of the Gallipoli campaign, it becomes a theme park. Already there are many companies profiting nicely from battlefield tourism.

So much for Mr Campbell's wish for the campaign to be forgotten.