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VK7AX > WIA 02.05.15 07:03l 52 Lines 2317 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 22779-VK7AX
Read: GUEST
Subj: [WIA-News] Belgium remembers the ANZACs
Path: IZ3LSV<IW8PGT<CX2SA<ZL2BAU<VK7AX
Sent: 150502/0537Z 22779@VK7AX.#ULV.TAS.AUS.OC [Ulverstone] $:22779-VK7AX
From: VK7AX@VK7AX.#ULV.TAS.AUS.OC
To : WIA@WW
Belgium remembers the ANZACs
Date : 28 / 04 / 2015
Author : Jim Linton - VK3PC
The Australian and New Zealand or ANZAC soldiers of WWI will never
be forgotten in Belgium.
On ANZAC Day this year a dawn service was held at the Buttes New British
Cemetery, Polygon Wood.
There were about 1,500 who attended the ceremony, in a very special atmosphere,
100 years since ANZAC troops landed at Gallipoli, Turkey.
Many ANZAC soldiers then went on to fight on the Western Front.
In 1917 the soldiers came to Flanders, where they fought in the bloody
Battle of Passchendaele.
A new parking lot near the Polygon was filled with many buses that had
Australian, New Zealand, and British tourists for the service.
During the ceremony that had prominent guests under the rising sun emblem,
wreaths were laid, the national anthems of Australia, New Zealand,
and Belgium were played, all captured by a live broadcast to Australia
and New Zealand. The owner of Cafe De Lange Dreve across the Polygon Wood,
Johan Vandewalle, looked forward to the 100th ANZAC Day.
"For me it is a high day. You do not get every day so many Australians
and New Zealanders to visit the region.ö Vandewalle is the driving force
behind the Brothers-In-Arms Memorial Project.
The volunteers in the group created a monument to all fallen soldiers,
and organises numerous fundraising activities.
The Saturday and Sunday had the first helicopter flights over the WWI sites.
"That flight lasted 12 minutes and gave a beautiful picture of the war zone,
" said Vandewalle, who incidentally is also an amateur archaeologist.
In a tent next to De Lange Dreve was the Royal Belgian Amateur Radio Union (UBA).
Using the callsign OP0PPY among the many contacts it had included those in
Australia, Russia and Turkey. Philippe Verhelst ON8PV from Waregem said:
"We installed a large antenna and in a tent you could see original
communication material from WWI." Also there was a large tent with new works
from artists from Australia and New Zealand, inspired by the
theme of ANZAC Day.
(Sourced from the WIA Website)
http://www.wia.org.au/newsevents/news/2015/20150428-2/index.php
(Posted to the Packet Radio Network courtesy Tony VK7AX)
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