ON this Anzac Day it will be 110 years since Colonel J. W. McCay led Australian troops on to those fatal shores of Turkey.
Those beaches and coastline on the Gallipoli peninsula would see 8,700 young Australians die in battle with a further 19,000 wounded.
Our New Zealand counterpart lost 2,431 (killed in action) and 5,140 wounded.
Allied forces which included English, French, Indian and Ghurkha troops suffered 44,000 killed and 97,000 wounded.
This was also the beginning of the War, and it was only eight months old.
How many troops would we lose in the years to follow (1914 to 1918).
Young Australian soldiers, some so young that they had not yet had their first shave.
It was later proven that some of these young men had not even reached the age of 18, yet they had accepted the challenge to go to battle for their country and if need be, to fight to the last and that they did.
They paid the supreme sacrifice so that you and I could live in a free society with freedom of speech, the freedom of religion and the freedom of choice.
After leaving the shores of Gallipoli on 20 December 1915, they returned to Egypt to collect their horses.
The Light Horse brigade stayed on while the rest set sail for England and prepared for the Western Front.
Our Light Horse, which consisted of seven Light Horse Brigades, got back in the saddle (so to speak) as they had left the horses back in Egypt during the Gallipoli Campaign.
It was not long until they ran up battle honours for themselves as they forced the Turks and Arabs back into Syria and Turkey in what was the Charge of Beersheba.
It was in fact the last charge ever on horseback by an Imperial Army during any World War. Our 15th Light Horse from Grafton has been with us for almost 30 years.
After acclimatisation had been completed in England our troops ended up on the Somme near the village of Villers–Bretonneux, where still to this day the school that our troops adopted back in 1916 love to see Australians come there and help celebrate the signing of the peace treaty every year.
Australia along with our allies suffered horrific losses; 615,000 troops were killed in action, what a waste of young men.
Some of the battles that the ANZACs were involved in were Pozieres, Bapaume, La Boisselle, Becourt, Bullecourt, Bouzincourt, Albert and Menin Road, to name a few.
It is so good to see young Australians going back to Gallipoli and to the Western Front just to see where our early history lies and of the great deeds of bravery, mateship, comradery and loyalty that our troops had for one another and as a fighting force that was second to none.
This tradition was carried forward to all our conflicts that Australians have partaken in the last 110 years.
This ANZAC Day, on the anniversary of 110yrs of ANZAC, remember those brave Aussies because they may have been a relative of yours, a great great grandad, uncle, aunt, father or cousin.
It is a time to remember all those members of the Armed Services who have given their lives in any of the conflicts that Australians have engaged in during the last century, plus 10 years.
By David DOYLE OAM, C.ex Group President