I will make sure they understands the weight of this day and why it is so much more than a simple anniversary.
Today, my 94-year-old grandfather is in Gallipoli.
A trip that was five years in the planning, being present for the 100th anniversary of Allied troops landing in what’s now ANZAC Cove was one that he, himself a WWII veteran, felt he had to make.
My little boy is only two and the occasion will pass barely noticed for him as he carries out his daily routine of exploration, demanding snacks and binge watching Octonauts. But in the years to come, even after his Great Pop is gone, I will make sure he understands the weight of this day and why it is so much more than a simple anniversary. These are the things I want him to know:
Those men fought so that you could play without fear in the sunshine.
Our fast paced younger generation might find it hard to connect the grainy pictures of men in slouch hats with anything that could possibly apply to their lives. It was those men, however, in that war and the ones that have followed, who made the ultimate sacrifice so that their descendents could live in the country that we continue to call lucky.
Women were heroes too.
They may not have been on the front lines, but women’s roles in war have been every bit as important. When men were called to enlist it was women who also leapt into action, volunteering as nurses with little knowledge or experience, making the clothes that kept soldiers warm on the battlefields and pushing to be allowed to take on more responsibility in the workforce.