Ceremony marks 90th year since Gallipoli landings

A remembrance service and wreath-laying ceremony were held yesterday at the Pietà military cemetery to commemorate the 90th anniversary of Anzac Day, when thousands of Australians and New Zealanders died in military action at Gallipoli and in subsequent actions.

The service and ceremony were conducted by Mgr Philip Calleja, Rev. David Morris and Canon Tom Mendel.

Wreaths were laid by President Eddie Fenech Adami and representatives of Australia, New Zealand, Britain, France, Turkey, the United States, the Armed Forces of Malta, the Royal British Legion, the George Cross Island Association, the King's Own Malta Regiment Association, the Emigrants' Commission, the Friends of Australia Association, the Maltese-Australian Association, the Maltese Australian Chamber of Commerce and Culture, the Malta GC Unit of the Sea Cadet Corps and the Scouts of Malta.

On April 25, 1915, Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (Anzac) landed at Gallipoli as part of an imperial expeditionary force. The intention was to knock Turkey out of the war.

The battle by Allied soldiers to capture and hold the Gallipoli peninsula was one of the hardest fought, but ultimately futile campaigns of World War I. As the troops landed on the beaches they were cut down by sustained and concentrated machine-gun fire. There was very heavy loss of life on both sides during the nine-month campaign that followed.

Some 50,000 members of the Australian imperial forces, from a total Australian population of just five million, served at Gallipoli and more than 8,700 Australians and 2,700 New Zealanders were killed in the campaign.

This heavy toll of dead and wounded carved deeply into the psyche of the people of Australia and New Zealand and April 25 has been set aside in both countries as a Day of Remembrance.

The significance and solemnity of Anzac Day has strengthened over the years as the community remembers all those who laid down their lives in the many conflicts fought by Anzacs since the Gallipoli campaign.

Malta was closely associated with the Anzacs from the beginning. Many of the Anzacs who were wounded at Gallipoli were evacuated to Malta for treatment.

History remembers Malta as The Nurse of the Mediterranean. However, for 308 Anzacs, the island became a permanent resting place as there are 229 Australian and 79 New Zealand war graves in Malta.

A Dawn Service, a tradition started in Malta last year, took place at the Mtarfa military cemetery, near Ta' Qali at 5.30 a.m. yesterday.