Our special day to remember

ANZAC Day goes beyond the anniversary of the landing at Gallipoli in 1915.

Tomorrow is the day on which we remember all Australians who served and died in war and on operational service past and present.

The spirit of Anzac, with its qualities of courage, mateship and sacrifice, continues to have meaning and relevance for our sense of national identity.

Our nation will pause this year to reflect on Australians fighting on the Western Front, including the bloody battles of Dernacourt, VillersBretonneux, Hamel, Amiens and Damascus.

So too, we will commemorate the 50th anniversaries of the attacks on Fire Support Bases Coral and Balmoral and the 75th anniversary of the battle of the Bismark Sea.

This year we will mark the centenary of the Armistice, when our young nation emerged from the First World War victorious, but inconsolably mourning its 62,000 dead.

These events changed our nation, giving us a greater belief in ourselves and a deeper understanding of what it means to be Australian.

Tens of thousands will gather in Cairns and the Far North at dawn and later in the day.

One of the most poignant will be the 4.28am dawn service at the war graves cemetery in Martyn St.

Last year it was nearly cancelled due to the lack of volunteers but the Cairns Post joined the RSL to save the event and the community’s response was touching with 3000 people attending.

Tomorrow big crowds are expected again with many younger servicemen and women as well as younger veterans taking part. We will remember them ... always. Nick Dalton Deputy editor