changed men: ANZAC Day

I found this book in the Arts Centre in Fremantle and just had to buy it. 

…. the band played Waltzing Matilda
when we stopped to bury our slain
we buried ours, and the Turks buried theirs
then we started all over again ……

…… now every April I sit on me porch
and I watch the parades pass before me 
and I see my old comrades, how proudly they march
reviving old dream of past glories

and the old men march slowly, old bones stiff and sore
they’re tired old bones from a forgotten war
and the young people ask “what are they marching for”
and I ask myself the same question….

Eric Bogle (And the band played Waltzing Matilda) 


My Dad came back from the Second World War a changed man. He wasn’t the only one, of course. He never talked much about his experiences - all he ever said was that he did not want me to have to go through it.

To all the Dads who came back from War, changed men.