IT’S OUR DAY TO GIVE THANKS AND REMEMBER

ANZAC Day is a time to stop, pause and remember. In the push and pull of a federal election campaign, this is an opportunity to put politics and all the other distractions aside and focus on what is a sacred day on the Australian calendar.

This year, we mark the 107th anniversary of the Australian Expeditionary Force’s disastrous landing at Gallipoli in 1915.

It is a moment when Australia came of age amid the carnage of the battlefield.

On Anzac Day, the nation’s thoughts have long focused on Gallipoli, and we contemplate how those months on a strip of sand on the other side of the world more than a century ago came to define who we are.

As well as the original Anzacs, today we honour the memory of all Australians who have served.

But often forgotten and lost are the stories and experiences of later veterans, as well as those of more recent conflicts.

Their sacrifices, as well as their successes, are equally as worthy of being remembered.

Gold Coasters Cherisa Pearce and Todd Eastwood have today shared their heartfelt stories about what Anzac Day means to them.

Both are now in their 40s and served in East Timor before retiring.

The pair have talked about the importance of family, both blood and military and the things that sustained them throughout their time in uniform and in the years beyond.

Today we remember them and all those who came before them, as well as those still serving today.

This year’s Anzac Day commemorations come as the first full-scale Dawn Services since the beginning of the pandemic more than two years ago.

The Gold Coast’s largest Dawn Service will again be held by Currumbin RSL at Elephant Rock where more than 15,000 people are expected to brave the cold to see the sun rise and remember the fallen.

It’s an important moment for many veterans who have missed out on official services since 2019.

The ingenuity of RSL bosses with the Light Up The Dawn pandemic commemorations of 2020 and 2021 should not be forgotten and they provided a critical and valuable moment of unity.

But in terms of raw emotion, few things have the power of hearing a bugler play The Last Post as the sun rises above the horizon.

Today we remember those who fell, those who came back, those who supported their loved ones through their trials and those who sacrifice everything. Lest We Forget.