In April, Spring had really sprung in Virginia and a young girl's heart yearned for the sea.

I went out with Ben for a sail and then on the race committee boat to kick off the Spring race season.

Then later in the month it was off to DC for the RAAF Seminar and Ball.

The highlight of the week was commemorating ANZAC Day. Afterwards, I wrote this report for Kanganoos:

"A Letter From America - Reflections on ANZAC Day"

ANZAC Day was pretty special for me this year. As dawn broke over Washington DC, I stood with about a hundred other Australian and New Zealanders at the Korean War Memorial in the Mall. An unexpected cold front had blown in overnight and we struggled to protect our fragile candle flames from dying in the chill breeze. A representative of "Dubya" and the US government spoke of the strong relationship between our countries - an allied partnership that was forged in combat and has endured the test of time. This was fitting as this year we commemorate not only the 100th anniversary of Federation and the 50th of the involvement of Australia and New Zealand in the Korean War, but also the 50th anniversary of the ANZUS treaty. The New Zealand Ambassador, Jim Bolger, their former Prime Minister, spoke of what the day meant to his countrymen, and then Australia's feelings for this special day were well
annunciated by our Ambassador Michael Thawley. Wreaths were laid by various dignitaries, most poignantly by the Turkish Ambassador, the ode was read, and the last post rang out as we remembered our fallen all over the world.

After the ceremony us "RAAFies" had a special duty to perform at Arlington National Cemetery as one of our own, PLTOFF Francis D. Milne, is buried there. He was attached to a US Army Air Corps transport unit as a copilot on a C-47 aircraft that was shot down in the dense jungle of North-East Papua New Guinea on November 26, 1942. The wreckage was only located in 1986 at which time his remains could not be separated from those of the aircraft's American Flight Engineer. The family of PLTOFF Francis D. Milne agreed to place all the remains in one casket and have them interred at Arlington in 1989. He is the only Australian to be buried there. As we stood for a short ceremony at his gravesite my thoughts went to my uncle who died under similar circumstances in WW2. Uncle John was also seconded to another nation's Air Force, piloting a Wellington Bomber with the RAF. He too was shot down in a foreign country and was buried in Klagenfurt, Austria with members of his crew in a joint grave. They are two of many who gave their lives for all of us in a far away land.

After this ceremony it was back to the Australian Embassy for the traditional Gunfire Breakfast of ANZAC biscuits, bacon and eggs, and "Bundified" coffee. At last we could warm up, and from the inside out! We milled and schmoozed for awhile until it was time to hop back on the bus and head to the Washington National Cathedral. It is quite an impressive structure, but surprisingly for America its "only" the 6th largest in the world. ;-) Despite its size it was reasonably full of Antipodeans and their invited guests. The service was again very moving and Mr Thawley gave a wonderful address, quoting chilling WW1 casualty statistics and an uplifting poem by Banjo Paterson. He was also able to very simply put into words why ANZAC Day is so special. He said its the one day of the year when we can put away our usual cynicism and tendency to undervalue our history and culture, feel pride in ourselves and really celebrate what our country is all about. I guess we all felt this even more by commemorating the day overseas.

It's strange - this is the 5th continent on which I've spent an ANZAC Day but the first time I've participated in it with the Kiwis. I think we sometimes have a tendency to forget that they were at Gallipoli. Even though small in numbers (8,000+ versus our 50,000+) they actually lost more people in the battle than we did on a percentage basis. We really have so much in common, our two countries, and yet the Kiwis don't seem to think much of us and we are often a little dismissive of them. What was even more sad was that when we sang the NZ, Aussie and US national anthems during the service, the Kiwis didn't know ours, we didn't know theirs and yet we all knew "The Star Spangled Banner". Its a shame really, especially when its us against the Americans over here ;-). Still they were most gracious hosts at the reception they held back at the NZ Embassy. They put on a fantastic spread featuring (amongst other delicacies) three things I haven't tasted since I left Australia - sausage rolls, roast lamb and mini pavlovas. And of course some rather nice New Zealand wines. I had to laugh though. The first thing I saw in the lobby was a large stuffed sheep!

All in all it was a very memorable day, as so many ANZAC Days have been in the past. For me, two days stand out amongst the ones I've experienced. The first was in Kigali, Rwanda in 1995. As I stood with other members of the Australian Services Contingent on a cool and misty morning, a lone piper began playing on the balcony of our quarters and the plaintive music of the highlands blended with the chanting of the Rwandan Patriotic Army soldiers passing on their usual morning run. Later that day I had to stand by and let a little 2 year old orphan named Saverina die because we were running out of medical supplies. She was one of many that we lost over there, amongst the many more we saved. So on ANZAC Day I remember Saverina, and all the innocent lives lost because of war and its after-effects. I also remember the people with whom I served, especially the ones who still suffer.

I spent ANZAC Day 1999 in a morgue in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, assisting in the autopsies of two RAAF F-111 aircrew. I had spent the past three days at the accident site - a swamp on a small island in the South China Sea - recovering the bodies and then transporting them via a Malaysian Air Force helicopter to KL. It was the hardest conditions I have ever endured - heat, humidity, being winched down and up every day just to get to the site, mud up to our knees...and of course recovering the fragmented bodies of people I knew. So on ANZAC Day I also remember those two aircrew members, Shorty and Nige, and everyone else who has made the ultimate sacrifice in the service of our great country.

Tracy Smart
Washington DC
26th April, 2001

For more information on ANZAC Day, check out my ANZAC Day page.

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