Hawaii Marks the Centennial of ANZAC Day
By COL, Ret. Arthur N. Tulak
The 100 year anniversary of America’s participation in WWI is not until April 2017. But the U.S. National Centennial Committee is already coordinating and collaborating with the WWI commemoration efforts of other Nations who fought in the Great War, as part of the Allies and the Central Powers. The National WWI Centennial Commission webpage has links to the Centennial commemoration websites of four of our WWI Allies (U.K., Australia, New Zealand, Canada) and our present-day Ally Germany. (posted at http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/participate/international/international-government-commemoration-organizations.html) Hawaii’s WWI Centennial Task Force is taking the same approach and is joining in with commemoration efforts of our international partners, and reaching out to identify events we can commemorate together in 2016.
On April 25, 2016 the Hawaii World War One Centennial Task Force attended ceremonies held by the Australian and New Zealand Consul-Generals at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, marking the 100th anniversary of the first ANZAC Day. ANZAC Day commemorates the deployment of the Australia New Zealand Army Corps to the Gallipoli campaign. The first ANZAC Day was held on April 25, 1916, to commemorate the anniversary of the landing of New Zealand and Australian soldiers, (known as Anzacs), on the Gallipoli Peninsula in 1915. The aim at Gallipoli was to capture the Dardanelles, the gateway to the Bosporus and the Black Sea, and to open a new strategic front against the Central Powers. The ANZACs fought a determined campaign against the Army of the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) for eight months ending in a stalemate and withdrawal from the amphibious beachhead. More than 8,000 Australian Soldiers, and 2779 New Zealand Soldiers died in the campaign.
Members of the Hawaii WWI Centennial Task Force laid a wreath of remembrance at the altar stone at the foot of the steps leading up to the statue of Lady Columbia, and later attended a reception on the fantail of the USS Missouri hosted by the Australian and New Zealand Consulates. At the reception, TF members met the Japanese Consul-General, Yasushi Misawa, and discussed cooperation in commemorating shared historical events when the U.S. and Imperial Japan were Allies during the Great War.
ANZAC Day 2016 was the first official event attended by the Hawaii WWI Centennial Task Force members and marked the start of active operations in coordination with our international commemoration partners.
Photo 2: The Australian and New Zealand Consulates hosted a reception on the Fantail of the USS Missouri following ceremonies at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Photo 1: TF Chairman COL USA Ret. Arthur Tulak (L), CCMSgt USAF Ret. Stan Fernandez, and Anita Manning (not in photo) present a floral wreath at the altar stone at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.