{"id":8611,"date":"2010-05-04T23:54:07","date_gmt":"2010-05-04T12:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/?p=8611"},"modified":"2010-05-04T23:54:07","modified_gmt":"2010-05-04T12:54:07","slug":"anzac-day-in-dubai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/?p=8611","title":{"rendered":"Anzac Day in Dubai"},"content":{"rendered":"

This report was kindly supplied by an Aussie\u00a0“friend of the First AIF” living in Dubai<\/span>:<\/p>\n

Waking up in Dubai you never expect to see rain, but like Sydney rain fell on Anzac Day morning from the skies of Dubai.
\nWe arrived at the dawn service at the Westin Hotel Mina Seyahi Dubai at 5 a.m. to find at least 100 other fellow Australians and New Zealanders. A proud turn out as an Aussie would say!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n

After a donation to obtain a red poppy, people took their seats as a\u00a0breeze came over to cool the Dubai air.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It was lovely to see so many children of a young age at the service.
\nThe ceremony began with a call to come together with an introduction by M.C. Graham McNally. Major Jonathan Herps (Rtd) RFD, a member of the Australia New Zealand Association<\/a> (ANZA) read John McCrae\u2019s poem In Flanders Fields.
\n<\/em>This was followed by the reading from the inscription on the Anzac Memorial at Gallipoli written by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and read by H.E. Umit Yalcin-Consul General of the Republic of Turkey.<\/p>\n

Those heroes that shed their blood\u00a0
\nand lost their lives;\u00a0
\nYou are now lying in the soil of a friendly country.
\nTherefore rest in peace.
\nThere is no difference between the Johnnies
\nand the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side
\nhere in this country of ours.
\nYou, the mothers,
\nwho sent their sons from far away countries,
\nwipe away your tears;
\nyour sons are now lying in our bosom
\nand are in peace.
\nAfter having lost their lives on this land they have
\nbecome our sons as well.<\/em><\/p>\n

Wreaths were then laid at the base of the flag poles \u2013 flying the flags of Australia, United Arab Emirates, New Zealand and Turkey – by the Consul General of Australia Kym Hewett, Consul General of the Republic of Turkey Umit Yalcin, and representatives of the New Zealand Consulate General, the Australia New Zealand Association (ANZA) and the Australian Business Council in Dubai (ABCD).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0The Commemoration of the Fallen<\/em> was read by Gary Chapman<\/a> on behalf of the New Zealand Consulate General.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The formal part of the commemoration concluded with the playing of the Last Post<\/em> and Reveille <\/em>by Peter Hatherley-Greene.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

For more photos\u00a0see the gulfnews.com<\/em> Anzac Day report by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Most people gathered afterwards for a full-buffet breakfast. This included Gunshot Coffee<\/em> (Bundy<\/em> Rum enhanced coffee) provided by ANZA and home baked ANZAC biscuits.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A perfect way to remember the true meaning of ANZAC.
\n\u00a0
\nMany of the Australian men then gathered at Westin Baristi<\/em> bar to share stories but not to play two-up (as gambling is not permitted in the UAE).<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

FFFAIF<\/em> thanks our \u2018on the spot\u2019 reporter for sharing Anzac Day ‘Dubai style’.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This report was kindly supplied by an Aussie\u00a0“friend of the First AIF” living in Dubai: Waking up in Dubai you never expect to see rain, but like Sydney rain fell on Anzac Day morning from the skies of Dubai. We … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anzac-day"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8611\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fffaif.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}