Alec Campbell

摘要

In The first world war 324,000 Australians volunteered to fight overseas, an extraordinary number in a nation of fewer than 5m people. Of the 60,000 Australians who died in the war, 8,700 were lost in a few months during a hopeless attempt to capture Gallipoli, a small piece of territory in Turkey. In the words of a piece of doggerel at the time, "In five minutes flat, we were blown to hell/Nearly blew us right back to Australia." The story of Gallipoli and the Anzacs, the name given to members of the Australia New Zealand Army Corps, became a legend in Australia (and indeed in New Zealand, which lost 2,700 men). Nine Australians were awarded the Victoria Cross, Britain's highest military honour. Australians talk of the Anzac spirit, rather as the British of a certain age talk of the Dunkirk spirit (both refer to managed retreats that softened the sting of defeat). A lot of Australian homes are simply called Anzac. Each year the battle is commemorated on April 25th, the anniversary of the Anzacs' landing in Gallipoli in 1915, in what is now known as Anzac Cove. This year, as on many previous occasions, the main commemorative procession was led by Alec Campbell, who because of his age was allowed the comfort of riding in a car. When Mr Campbell died a few weeks later flags were flown at half mast throughout Australia. He was given a state funeral on May 24th and the prime minister, John Howard, cut short an official visit to China to be there.