Anzac Day… It’s A Bloody BIG Deal

Anzac Day is less than a week away.

Sadly, most Australians seem more focused on enjoying the mid-week public holiday than what Anzac Day is really about.

Here, at Eagle Wools, we truly appreciate and value this incredible country of ours… So much so that we push, promote and advocate only Australian products and fully support local Aussie companies. But everything we do is only possible because of the huge sacrifices made by the Anzacs.

Anzac Day is a day when we can really stop and take a moment to be truly grateful for the sacrifices that hundreds of thousands of Australians made for our country. We take a moment not only to honour those who lost their lives, but all those who served, and their families too.

Really think about it for a minute… Putting your life on the line for your country… It’s a bloody BIG deal!

Young men, women and children heading off to war to fight for this country’s future… (That future is now… the lives we are living today and in the future). Those soldiers deserve our attention, they deserve our gratitude… In fact, we owe them everything.

Our country has changed so much in the last century… We now live in a time where slow internet and political correctness are legitimate complaints. Love it or hate it. Australia’s changed… the whole world has changed and our children have a skewed perspective about just how privileged their lives are. I even think us older generations (the baby boomers, Gen X, Gen Y) take our circumstances for granted… We owe everything to the Anzacs.

Fortunately, children still get taught about Anzac Day at school when they are little… but for many of those little minds, which are filled with awe and inspiration, they go home to Mum and Dad who don’t engage with their children about Anzac Day. It’s just another day. Just a part of history…. They grow up thinking, “It’s just another public holiday.”

This Anzac Day we will remember. But lets take it a step further this year. We would like to invite you to do the following:

1.) Make Anzac Day more than just a public holiday – go to a dawn service or in some way actively remember the Anzacs. Also, invite or encourage someone to join you who you wouldn’t normally. Some people might not know how the dawn services work and having someone invite them is easier than just turning up among strangers.

2.) Ask some questions and discover something new. Take an interest in finding out more about your own history and heritage. Ask questions like “Did anyone in our family serve in the military?” and make sure the legacy of the Anzacs lives on through you.

3.) Involve your children, grandchildren, nieces & nephews etc. Take them to the service, or just bake some Anzac Biscuits and have a chat – Let’s instil a genuine gratitude into the next generation so they truly remember what the Anzacs did for us. Their sacrifice needs to live on in the minds and hearts of the young. They need to feel a connection that’s alive and real. One that they’ll pass on to their own children in years to come.

And, with that I’d like to finish off with a tribute to my own grandfather William Paslow. A man I never knew, but I am eternally grateful to.

He served in WW2 as a Lancaster bomber pilot. Although he was a RAAF pilot, he served with 149 Squadron RAF as did many Australians. He bravely flew some 20 missions over Germany and survived along with all his crew.

Above is my grandad and his crew. Grandad is standing on the left with his hand on the bloke kneeling. On the right is a photo of Grandad in his outfit wearing an Akubra Slouch hat. (Something we proudly sell at Eagle Wools!)

Lest we forget.

Pamela Smith
A Proud Granddaughter