ANZAC Day April 25 2019
April 25th, 2019 marks 104 years since the landing at Gallipoli (modern Gelibolu), a peninsula in Turkey.
To the west of the peninsula lies the Aegean Sea. To the east is the Dardanelles strait, which connects the Aegean Mediterranean Seas with the sea of Marmara. 
The landing followed an earlier, unsuccessful naval assault on the strait by Allied forces. The aim of the attacks was to open a supply route to southern Russia, and to weaken the Ottoman Empire. The Turks had mined the Dardanelles, and the only vessels able to break through were two submarines, one Australian, and one British.
The attacking force was made up of troops from Great Britain, France, Newfoundland, India, New Zealand and Australia. The area was defended by Turkish troops, assisted by German advisors. The defenders were well dug in on the higher ground, and their position would prove unassailable by the end of the campaign, which would end with a total loss of almost 131,000 lives from both sides.
The military doesn’t start wars. Politicians start wars. (William Westmoreland).
In 1914 he enlisted in The AIF (Australian Imperial Force), eventually joining the Australian Light Horse 10th Regiment, a unit that would cloak itself in glory on the battlefield, seeing action at Gallipoli, Beersheba, Jerusalem, and Damascus.
Thomas Victor Lakeland, son of English immigrants Robert and Isabella Lakeland (nee Gleason), enlisted in Perth, West Australia on Saturday, October 10th, 1914. Whether he was looking for adventure and to see more of the world, or was caught up in patriotic fervour we’ll never know.
What we do know is that at age 25, on September 10th, 1915 he was killed in action at Gallipoli.
His father, Robert, received this letter dated December, 1915:
Dear Sir,
With reference to the report of the regrettable loss of your son, the late no. 430 Private T.V. Lakeland, 10th Light Horse Regiment, I am now in receipt of advice which above shows that he was killed in action at Anzac, Gallipoli Peninsular, on the 10th September 1915.
These additional details are furnished by direction, it being the policy of the Department to supply all possible information in connexion with deaths of members of the Australian Imperial Force.
Yours faithfully,
Capt.
Officer i/c Base Records.
Sometimes when we look at battles in history, we just see facts and figures, wins and losses, and we don’t see the pain and tragedy that goes with it.
Maybe if we did, there’d be fewer wars, but probably not.
My aim in sharing this post is to attempt to show that there is a human cost to war – a cost that is borne by soldiers and civilians alike, and pain that is felt by generations.
Of course, I never got to meet Thomas, but I did meet his sister Hilda a number of times, and a couple of his brothers. Hilda was my grandmother, and my Dad grew up just two doors down the road from Thomas’s house in Scotts Parade Ballarat, Victoria, Australia.
This year, as I have for most of my life, I will honour the sacrifice of previous generations, those who lost their lives, and those who returned scarred.
And I will watch the new, fresh-faced generation march in the same way that Thomas and his compatriots did, hoping all the while that they never have to face the carnage that that generation saw!
