Rethinking Gallipoli
Like many New Zealand children, I grew up with the stories of Anzac Day and Gallipoli: Simpson and his donkey, Freyberg swimming ashore to set the flares, and so on (“Right of Return”, April 2).
The occasional query as to why we were commemorating such a comprehensive defeat was met with answers basically summed up as “New Zealand came of age on those shores”.
Fast-forward a few years and I came to realise that at Gallipoli, we invaded a foreign sovereign country, with whom we had no quarrel. Our glorious fight was against soldiers who were prepared to give everything to defend their homeland. Yet each year, we expect to go to Gallipoli to commemorate that event.
How would we feel if, say, in 1942, the Japanese had staged an unsuccessful invasion of New Zealand with thousands of casualties on both sides. And what if, once the conflict was over, thousands of Japanese came here each year to commemorate their attempted invasion of our country?
Maybe it is time to stop the ceremonies at Anzac Cove. Mourn our thousands who died or were wounded in senseless conflict at Gallipoli and so many other foreign lands, but out of respect for
