Page 75 - Wish Stream Year of 2018

alties were from Australia and 7,991 were from New Zealand. The Ottoman Empire suffered even greater losses, with around 250,000 Turk and Arab casualties sustained.
One meaningful good to come from the other- wise disastrous campaign was the birth of the Australian and New Zealand national conscience. In the history of this young nation (the six origi- nal colonies of Australia only federated in 1901) nothing forged so unique a sense of ‘Australian’ identity as the experience of fighting and dying at Gallipoli. ANZAC soldiers suffered the greatest losses per capita in the field of any Allied army; they travelled the farthest, were away the longest, and they were the only volunteers. Since 1916, 25th April has officially been named ‘ANZAC Day’ in commemoration to those involved. Since then it has grown to broadly commemorate all Austral- ians and New Zealanders “who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping opera- tions” and “the contribution and suffering of all those who have served”.
On 25th April 2018, 21 Officer Cadets and three Directing Staff from The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst Hockey Team had the distinct privi- lege of taking part in the commemorations held in Sydney on the last day of a 10-day tour of the country. WO1 (CRSM) M Ridgeway-Buckley
WG took charge of the Sandhurst Contingent and formed them up to march at the front of the Combined British Armed Forces taking part in the parade; this included a number of characters, one of which was a 96-year-old Royal Engineer who, having been captured by the Japanese in WWII, had made a daring escape after a number of harrowing months in POW detention. Any illu- sions that other, less interesting but more vocal attendees would be in charge of the marching party were abruptly dispelled when the CRSM boomed for Sandhurst to spring to attention and step off. For many of the Officer Cadets, this will have been the largest parade they may ever take part in. The pavements of Sydney teemed with the young and old, and great satisfaction was drawn at spying, from the corner of an eye, the occasional Union flag among the myriad of Aus- tralian ones being waved with great zeal as the parade moved down to the ANZAC Memorial. A roaring “eyes left” from the CRSM was met with deafening applause from the heaving streets as the Officer Cadets marched past the Memorial.
Following the parade and after a quick change out of uniform, we continued to get to know the veterans over a beer or two in one of Sydney’s many pubs.
The game finished with a 2-2 scoreboard, but unsatisfied not to have an outright win, the game went to penalty flicks. Full credit must be given to the goalkeepers on each side, but OCdt Bishop was on great form and denied the RMC their chance of victory, and with our attack scoring on every flick, there was no stopping the RMAS win.
Our final two days took us back to Sydney, where, on the 25th April, RMAS led the British contingent of the ANZAC Day Parade, a celebra- tion of the achievements of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps that is such an inte- gral part of Australian culture. The streets were closed for a march that took over three hours from start to finish, where all past and present members of the services paraded along to the cheers of their countrymen. It was humbling for us to have been invited to march, and every- one put their best foot forward to represent the RMAS on this important day.
Our gratitude goes out to the ADF for inviting us to Australia to play some great hockey and to
see how they live and function as an Army and a society. We were made to feel very welcome, and in the future, we hope to see the ADF play on some of our pitches so we can return the gesture.
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