Today, 25 April, is a very important day! In Australia and New Zealand, this is when they commemorate "ANZAC Day!" ANZAC stands for "Australian and New Zealand Army Corps." This was a Corps of soldiers from Australia and New Zealand who fought in World War One. On 25 April, 1915, these soldiers made an amphibious landing at a place called Gallipoli. That developed into a terrible battle in which thousands of them were killed.

Today, ANZAC day commemorates all of the Australian and New Zealand soldiers who have fought and died in wars, from World Wars One and Two to Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam, and the two Gulf Wars. It's a very important day.

Steve had a great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather who fought with the original ANZACs (see picture below), so he led our own commemoration.

On ANZAC day, people wear red poppies. This commemorates the battles fought near Ypres, in Belgium, and the poppies that grew there. There is a famous poem called In Flanders Fields that mentions the poppies, and that's why they've become part of our remembrance. Unfortunately, no poppies grow in this part of Iraq, so we did the best we could:

New Zealand does not have soldiers in Iraq, but a member of their diplomatic corps came as a representative:

Steve and I raised the Australian and New Zealand flags to half-mast to commemorate the soldiers from Australia and New Zealand who have died in war:

Winston and Snort laid a wreath of poppies:

Steve finished off by reciting another famous poem, For the Fallen, which is another traditional part of ANZAC day observances.

I sure learned a lot about Australian history by helping Steve commemorate ANZAC Day! If you want to learn more about this holiday, the Australian War Museum has a site that explains it very well:

http://www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/anzac/anzac_tradition.htm