I didn't know Australians fought in WW1

[spidge]

I couldn't let this one pass seeing I posted my one about D-Day.

From a fellow Australian who gathered together family members of the crew of a downed ww2 aircraft and met with them in England.

He has a quote to top mine.

I was standing holding a torch to enable a UK man and his wife to read the Bastiaan plaque on the ramparts above the Menin Gate in Ieper, Belgium, just after the conclusion of the nightly 8.00pm Ceremony that is held there every night.
This man read the entire plaque and relief map that is on each of Ross' plaques, detailing the local actions, casualties and contributions, both tactically and strategically, by the Aussies (in this case in the Ieper area in WW1).
He then turned to me and said, "I didn't know Australians fought in WW1"!
I was gentle with him! We Aussies were labelled "British" in that war, as you know.

[Kyt]

Still amazes me when people say things like that. I've heard the same about Indians in the trenches.

[rlaughton]

We Canadians still have that problem as well, as all Canadians were "British Subjects" until 1949. Few Canadians are even aware of that. Both my parents served in WWII as British Subjects, with British Passports - there were no Canadian passports prior to that date.

And then there was Newfoundland - the extra and most significant British colony. Very close to the Australians at Galipoli.

[spidge]

Originally Posted by rlaughton

We Canadians still have that problem as well, as all Canadians were "British Subjects" until 1949. Few Canadians are even aware of that. Both my parents served in WWII as British Subjects, with British Passports - there were no Canadian passports prior to that date.

And then there was Newfoundland - the extra and most significant British colony. Very close to the Australians at Galipoli.

Though I knew that the Australian airmen were part of the EATS programme in Canada I must admit I was unaware of the amount of accidental death that occurred.

In total there were 146 RAAF deaths which were buried in 49 cemeteries scattered all round Canada.

[morse1001]

Originally Posted by spidge

I couldn't let this one pass seeing I posted my one about D-Day.

From a fellow Australian who gathered together family members of the crew of a downed ww2 aircraft and met with them in England.

He has a quote to top mine.

>>>

I find such displays of ignorance as funny, worse still because of various programmes about WW1 being shown on British TV and i do not just mean, "Empire" which was very good.

My Grandfather Dale, spent time at Etapes training Aussies to use the trench mortars. Mind you he still had to do his turn in the trenchs as well!

[morse1001]

I was reminded of an incident during a german histiry seminar at Uni. We had a chap who boasted that he had A level History. The topic that we were discussing was why did germany not invade Britian.

I said that after july 1941, Hitler had other things on his mind. This guy asked me what they were, I asked him, "What had happened in Germany" He said "he did not know" , I gave him a clue "Operation Barrbarosa"! "What was that" came the reply

[spidge]

Originally Posted by morse1001

I was reminded of an incident during a german histiry seminar at Uni. We had a chap who boasted that he had A level History. The topic that we were discussing was why did germany not invade Britian.

I said that after july 1941, Hitler had other things on his mind. This guy asked me what they were, I asked him, "What had happened in Germany" He said "he did not know" , I gave him a clue "Operation Barrbarosa"! "What was that" came the reply

The "A" probably stood for America and as they were not in the war yet, there was nothing to know/learn.

[Antipodean Andy]

I usually tend to get a bit miffed when I see WWII quoted as being 1941-1945...