"I crouched in a shallow trench on that hell of exposed beaches...
steeply rising foothills bare of cover... a landscape pockmarked with war’s
inevitable litter... piles of stores... equipment... ammunition... and
the weird contortions of death sculptured in Australian flesh... I saw
the going down of the sun on that first ANZAC Day... the chaotic maelstrom
of Australia’s blooding.
I fought in the frozen mud of the Somme... in a blazing destroyer
exploding on the North Sea... I fought on the perimeter at Tobruk... crashed
in the flaming wreckage of a fighter in New Guinea... lived with the damned
in the place cursed with the name Changi.
I was your mate... the kid across the street... the med. student
at graduation... the mechanic in the corner garage... the baker who brought
you bread... the gardener who cut your lawn... the clerk who sent your
phone bill.
I was an Army private... a Naval commander... an Air Force bombardier.
no man knows me... no name marks my tomb, for I am every Australian serviceman...
I am the Unknown Soldier.
I died for a cause I held just in the service of my land... that
you and yours may say in freedom... I am proud to be an Australian"
