moginie
Brownlow Medallist
Doris Lessing is absolutely correct. White Australia imho has still never recovered from the desecration of a generation which had so much promise, was better educated than any other period prior, and, for its time, more progressive than many of its counterparts.Four brothers, a whole family? That is a huge sacrifice for a family to bear.
My heart aches for your Grandmother and all of your family.
The legacy of men serving in war and returning to families damaged, is current to this day.
A difficult thing to grow up with no doubt.
My Great Grandfather was literally blown to pieces at Passchendaele.
He didn't have to serve, he was 30 years old and the Headmaster of the local school at Bathurst, with a wife and 5 children, as all of the local men had gone and not come back he went because he considered it a duty he must do.
He was a Bren gunner and had just come off the front to rest behind lines when there was a direct hit on the camp from Big Bertha. There was nothing left to bury but of course he does have a grave at Villiers-Bretonneux, one of the countless thousands.
My Great Grandmother was left destitute as there was no war widow pension in those days, my Grandmother who was the oldest child in the family had to immediately find work to support the rest.
There are so many stories of damage, everyone suffers.
I remember reading Doris Lessing (essay on her theory but also her books) on how, because of WWI the link to 'Good Fathering and effective Fathers' was lost to modern society, because of outright loss of the Father or the damaged Fathers who returned from WWI and that this was then magnified by the same thing happening in the WWII.
I believe this theory is true, that there is a huge schism that was created by these wars in the psyche of society and the 'Lost Fathers'. This theory also extends to the paternal Govt roles that were compromised and the 'trust' damaged.
To me the legacy of Anzac day is to yes, remember families but mainly to remember where never to go again.