This week on the 25th of April, Australian and New Zealand observe ANZAC day. It is their Memorial Day to remember their falling, it starts with a sunrise service, followed by ANZAC biscuits, and beer with brothers and family.  ANZAC day started as a remembrance of the invasion of Gallipoli, now it is used as a Remembrance Day for all who have been lost to war. Gallipoli was a plan hatched by Winston Churchill the first lord of the admiralty in WWI. I had the privilege of spending an ANZAC day in Perth a couple of years back, and it was amazing to see how close we are to our allies in the pacific. So, on the 25th April raise a glass to all of our brothers that have helped support us in everything we have done and helped promote freedom in the world. The ANZACs are the only countries that have been with the U.S. in every war we have fought since WW1, to include Vietnam and the Global War on Terror.

ANZAC is the acronym formed from the initial letters of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. This was the formation in which Australian and New Zealand soldiers in Egypt were grouped before the landing on Gallipoli in April 1915.

The acronym was first written as “A & NZ Army Corps.” However, clerks in the corps headquarters soon shortened it to ANZAC as a convenient telegraphic code name for addressing telegram messages.

I can never do justice telling the story of Gallipoli. Like most of WW1 and other battles, a lot of mistakes were made in the planning, but they were followed up by a lot of brave man doing whatever they had to do so their brothers would live another day. Long Live the Brotherhood.

www.awm.gov.au/learn/schools/resources/understanding-gallipoli

nzhistory.govt.nz/war/the-gallipoli-campaign/introduction

Donnie Dunagan was born in August 1934 and was drafted in 1952 during the Korean War. Instead, he decided to join the Marine Corps where he would spend 21 years in and retire in 1977 at the rank of Major. While growing up in Tennessee, Dunagan’s family struggled to make ends meet. After Dunagan’s family relocated to Hollywood after winning $100 in a talent competition, he rose to the status of a child celebrity. His most recent role was as the voice of Bambi, the beloved baby fawn from the Disney film of the same name.

It was a stark contrast between his Hollywood past and his adolescent years. However, he adapted to the life of a Marine. During his 21-year career, he served three tours in Vietnam, earning a promotion to Major along with a Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts. which was a company record at the time. He was also the youngest drill instructor to don the campaign hat at twenty-seven years. He kept his movie carrier a secret from his fellow Marines throughout this time. He was never ashamed of his past, but like every good military person, you can never give people any ammo to make fun of you. Somethings never change.

He had a brief career as a child actor before being cast as the title character’s voice in Disney’s 1942 animated film Bambi, which has become a classic animated film about a young deer who learns about life in the forest.

Of course, it eventually made its way out. Several decades later, a Marine with whom Dunagan had previously worked on several occasions, including twice in combat, summoned him to his office about a month or so before the two of them were to retire.

Dunagan said, “When I walk into his office, he greets me with, ‘Dunagan! ‘I’d like you to audit the auditors,’ I say. “Dunagan recalls the incident. Being swamped with other work at the time, Dunagan respectfully inquired of him: “General, when do you think I’ll have time to do that?”

And, at long last, the secret he’d been living with for years came to out.

“He looked at me and drew his glasses down as if he were a university professor. There’s a large, red, top-secret folder with my name on it that he managed to get out of some hidden safe somewhere. “You will audit the auditors, Maj. Bambi,” he says as he patted the folder on the table and looked me in the eyes.

Dungan says, “But I enjoy it now when people realize that this old jerk is still alive and that he was Bambi. And I wouldn’t accept anything in exchange for it, not even a darn thing.”