Lest We Forget - Ne l'oublions jamais
At dawn on the 25 April in cities and towns around Australia, people gathered to remember those who served our nation in conflicts dating back to World War 1. An ANZAC Day highlight for many others is to attend the dawn service at the Villers-Bretonneux military cemetery, one of the key Somme battlefields of both the first and second world wars, located 140km north of Paris.
The recapture of the town of Villers-Bretonneux in WW1 cost more than 1200 Australian lives. These soldiers are among the 2,142 compatriots buried at the military cemetery, two kilometres north of the town. Affection for Australia runs deep along the Somme: the Victoria School in the town of Villers-Bretonneux was rebuilt after the war with funds raised by schoolchildren in Victoria, and each classroom bears the sign N’oublions jamais l’Australie (“Never Forget Australia”).
In Péronne, another strategic Western Front site 40km to the east, a stretch of the main street is ceremonially named “Roo de Kanga”, recalling a street sign famously hung there by the victorious Diggers. Péronne’s Museum of the Great War has a very moving section on the proud and eternal contribution of our ANZACs.