FORT BENNING, Ga., (April 22, 2015) -- The 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli landings in World War I, the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps Day, will be commemorated beginning at 6 a.m. April 25 with a gunfire breakfast and remembrance service at the 173rd Airborne Brigade Memorial at the National Infantry Museum.
The first ANZAC Day on Fort Benning was held in 2012.
The 173rd Airborne Brigade Memorial holds significance as a symbol of the alliance between U.S. and Australian Soldiers, as it is one of the few U.S. memorials that bear the names of fallen ANZAC servicemen.
"We remember the sacrifices that started, really, with the ANZAC soldiers in World War I ... it has grown to also remember the sacrifices that all (ANZAC) soldiers, men and women, have given throughout all the wars since then," said Lt. Col. Dave Heatley, Australian liaison officer, Maneuver Center of Excellence. "Because, what they have sacrificed for is the freedoms we enjoy now and a standard living that we enjoy now. It is a day where we very deliberately remember and give thanks."
ANZAC Day is a national holiday in Australia and New Zealand, Heatley said, and marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces in World War I.
Gallipoli was Australia and New Zealand's first significant opportunity to show what their soldiers could do. Both countries strongly supported the allied war effort and maintained very strong cultural and historical links to Britain. News of the landings and the reality of subsequent events - both in Gallipoli and on the Western Front - had a profound impact on Australians and New Zealanders at home, Heatley said.
"Some of the things that came out of it was the courage of the soldiers in the trenches, the mateship of how they bonded together," Heatley said, " ... (and the) teamwork of coming together to overcome adversity."
The Australian army coin has three of the four Australian army's core values of teamwork, initiative and courage, which Heatley said trace back to Gallipoli and ANZAC Day.
The fourth core value, respect, has since been added, Heatley said.
"The New Zealand army shared the same experience," Heatley said. "This was their first time to go to war as one nation, albeit we combined our forces."
The gunfire breakfast at the commemoration signifies the "last meal" soldiers would have before going into battle.
"The timing of the dawn service is certainly very specific because it remembers the fact that our troops landed at dawn, or before first light on the shores of Gallipoli," Heatley said.
In Canberra, Australia, Heatley said more than 50,0000 people will turn out for dawn services, listen to speeches, and observe a moment of silence and a wreath laying.
Here, members of the community are invited to attend the service.
Heatley said he anticipates the attendance of current serving Soldiers as well as veterans from Vietnam who served with 173rd Airborne Brigade and World War II veterans with connections to Australian or New Zealand forces.
Heatley said a few hundred people attended the first ANZAC Day held at Fort Benning.
"We are appreciative that people have shown a genuine interest in what this special day means for Australians and New Zealanders and that they're interested to see how we remember as a nation and how we give thanks to the sacrifices of our service personnel, give thanks to those who currently serve but then equally also celebrate those freedoms," Heatley said. "It was truly a passage of right as a nation. It has quite significant social implications for us as a nation."
In case of extreme weather the Dawn Service will be conducted in the National Infantry Museum's IMAX theater.
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