A special dawn

By CPL Damian Shovell

CAF at Gallipoli.

Prime Minister John Howard at the dawn service in Baghdad.

AUSTRALIAN soldiers, sailors and airmen and women paused and paid tribute at Anzac Day services around Iraq.

At the Air Traffic Control detachment’s dawn service, Prime Minister John Howard and CDF General Peter Cosgrove made their surprise visit, landing in the hour before dawn on a Hercules at Baghdad International Airport.

As Chaplain Ivan Grant, Principal Chaplain at the Australian National Headquarters in Baghdad, read the order of service, a series of images depicting the ADF throughout the years was projected on to a screen behind him.

“We have an amazing heritage to draw from, and it is only now, serving here in Baghdad, that I am beginning to understand it, because it is here where new chapters are being written,” he said.

“In Anzac Days to come we who serve here will proudly take our place alongside the veterans of our past, and in a new way we will understand why they served and why they march.”

As GEN Cosgrove approached the lectern to read the prayer for the ADF, automatic gunfire was heard from the US training range nearby, adding a poignant reminder of the dangers faced in Iraq and on the beaches of Gallipoli 89 years earlier. Representatives from the UK, US, Hungary and Turkey were among those to lay commemorative wreaths.

After the ceremony Mr Howard presented AASMs to eight personnel. He also told ADF members, “What you’re doing here is just. You’re doing a great job and I’m proud of you.” The dawn service in Iraq carried a symbolic significance because it was in Mesopotamia, as it was then known, that the forerunner of the Air Force, the Australian Flying Corps, suffered its first combat losses in 1915 when Australian Lieutenant G.P Merz and New Zealander Lieutenant W.W. A.Burn were killed by hostile Arabs.

Thoughts of the day

LAC Craig Mitchell, carpenter with Force Level Logistic Asset, Baghdad: “We did a lot of work leading up to it so it was good to see the final outcome. We built the catafalque [at Camp Victory] and also over at the Air Traffic Control detachment. We also built the projection screen and the lecterns used for the day.” Best part of the day: “The breakfast and meeting the Prime Minister in Iraq on Anzac Day.”

SQNLDR Anthony Stainton, air traffic controller, ATC detachment, Baghdad International Airport: “Before I left Australia I was really looking forward to being here on Anzac Day and I’m really proud to have done it.” Best part of the day: “Watching the guys receive their AASMs from the Prime Minister and meeting the Prime Minister.”

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