Australia — ANZAC day – ADF to remember service to our nation

Mem­bers of the Aus­tralian Defence Force will pause on ANZAC Day to pay trib­ute to all those who have served in Aus­tralian mil­i­tary oper­a­tions, the Chief of Defence Force, Air Chief Mar­shal Angus Hous­ton, said today.
Air Chief Mar­shal Hous­ton said next Mon­day marked the 96th anniver­sary of the first sig­nif­i­cant mil­i­tary action fought by Aus­tralian and New Zealand forces dur­ing World War I.

“On ANZAC Day, we hon­our not only the orig­i­nal ANZACs who died on 25 April 1915, but all Aus­tralians who have served and died not only in com­bat but in peace-keep­ing, dis­as­ter relief and human­i­tar­i­an assis­tance mis­sions,” Air Chief Mar­shal Hous­ton said.

“ANZAC Day is a day of com­mem­o­ra­tion and reflec­tion, a day we remem­ber those who have served our nation in uni­form, and a day we pay trib­ute to over 102,000 Aus­tralian sol­diers, sailors, air­men and air­women who have died in the ser­vice of our great nation.”

Air Chief Mar­shal Hous­ton also urged Aus­tralians to remem­ber our cur­rent serv­ing men and women, who are car­ry­ing on the ANZAC spir­it around the globe.

“More than 3,300 ADF mem­bers are cur­rent­ly deployed on oper­a­tions pro­tect­ing Aus­tralia and our nation­al inter­ests,” Air Chief Mar­shal Hous­ton said. 

“Like their ANZAC fore­fa­thers, our peo­ple are doing an out­stand­ing job serv­ing our nation with great distinction. 

“ANZAC Day is also a time to reflect on the sac­ri­fices made by our ADF fam­i­lies. With­out their love and sup­port, our ser­vice­men and women would not be able to car­ry out their duties as well as they do.”

Media Con­tact: Defence Media Oper­a­tions: 02 6127 1999 or 0408 498 664 

Press release
Min­is­te­r­i­al Sup­port and Pub­lic Affairs,
Depart­ment of Defence,
Can­ber­ra, Australia 

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