The solemn notes of the bugle’s Last Post played out over Pietá Military Cemetery yesterday, as dignitaries and military veterans laid wreaths to mark 100 years since the Anzac landings in Gallipoli.

“While it is important not to lose focus of the futility of war and the often flawed decisions that sent these young men to their deaths, today we honour the courage of the men who died so that the light of freedom and liberty might continue to shine,” said Judge Peter Zahra of the district court of New South Wales, Australia.

More than 11,400 Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (Anzac) troops were killed in the course of the Allied campaign in Gallipoli, Turkey, in 1915.

The ill-fated campaign also sparked Malta’s reputation as the Nursemaid of the Mediterranean. Apart from some 800 Maltese volunteers who supported the Gallipoli campaign on the front lines, numerous sick and wounded were evacuated to Malta for medical treatment.

By the end of the war, some 55,000 Australian and New Zealand soldiers had been treated in Malta and 237 remain buried here.

“They did not return home to follow their dreams, but Malta has become their home. Malta showed them kindness and they have become sons of Malta,” said Judge Zahra.

Australian High Commissioner Jane Lambert said Anzac Day continued to shape the Australian and New Zealand psyche to this day. “The spirit of Anzac, with its human qualities of courage, mateship, equality, self-sacrifice and loyalty, continues to have meaning and relevance for our respective sense of national identity.”

The ceremony was also attended by President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, Foreign Minister George Vella, Speaker of the House Anġlu Farrugia and members of the diplomatic corps.

Following the ceremony, Mrs Coleiro Preca unveiled two information panels at the Pietá cemetery, installed by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.