FED:Anzac Day time to honour sacrifice: Rudd

AAP General News (Australia)
04-25-2011
FED:Anzac Day time to honour sacrifice: Rudd

CANBERRA, April 25 AAP - Anzac Day is a time to remember and honour the values previous
generations had battled for, Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd says.

Mr Rudd said Australians travelled vast distances as pilgrims to Villers-Bretonneux
in northern France to respect the sacrifices made by Australian soldiers on the western
front in World War I.

"We come to honour the values for which they fought - for freedom, for a fair go for
all, values which we hold to be true for all humankind, not just for some," he said at
the dawn service in Villers-Bretonneux, France, on Monday.

He said the efforts of Australian soldiers at Villers-Bretonneux, just south of the
Somme and about two hours north of Paris, were timely in repelling the German advance
and contributing to the overall outcome in WWI.

"It was of strategic significance for the future of a war that had already been waged
for four long years, and had already yielded unspeakable carnage," he said.

"Australians were not, therefore, simply bit players in the great drama that unfolded
here - a drama that helped shape the outcome of the war," Mr Rudd said.

"Together with the British, the French, the Canadians and the New Zealanders, we were
critical to that outcome."

But the boys who become men following the battles in Europe had a profound impact on
Australia, about 17,000km away, Mr Rudd said.

"The cost of all this, quite literally, almost bled our fledging nation dry," he said.

"Our population was just under five million."

He said nearly 350,000 Australians served abroad during WWI, of which 60,000 died and
150,000 were casualties.

"Our casualty rate of 65 per cent was the highest of any nation of the war - and uniquely
from an entirely volunteer army.

"For such was the price of freedom. Its price has always been high. And always will."

AAP el/jsh/de

KEYWORD: ANZAC RUDD

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