Rotary Exchange student experiences ANZAC day at Villers Bretonneux

Posted

on May 01, 2014

From Chelsea Boots, Northern France: ANZAC DAY 2014

An excerpt from her Face book.

"I have never felt so at home, so far from home.

For Anzac Day, I attended the dawn service at Villers-Bretonneux along with thousands of other Aussies.

To hear the Australian accent of strangers, to feel so

connected and so blended in, in such a foreign country.

I have never been more proud to call myself an Australian,

born and bred.

Lest we forget."

NOW A LITTLE BIT OF WW1 HISTORY...

Villers-Bretonneux was, and still is, such a significant location

in Australia's war time history. In WW1 the first tank battle happened here, it was between the British and the Germans. The next day the Germans seized the town but during that

night and the next day the Australians (to be exact the 4th

and 5th division of the First Australian Imperial Force)

re-captured it. But in that short time, over 1,200 Aussies saw their last moments here.

So now, this is the official Australian War Memorial in France and 770 of these 1,200 Australians rest here at Villers.

The school in this town was rebuilt from donations from Victorian school children. In the school (which is designed so much like a typical Aussie school) in the yard there is a sign

that says "Never let us forget the Australians"