A personal Anzac Day reflection on service, sacrifice and the enduring lesson that war should be remembered, not glorified.

Another ANZAC day approaches I commemorate those who serve, especially my grand uncle Mick who rode a famous horse, ‘Bill the Bastard’ at Gallipoli in WWI.

Bill was a chestnut horse from New South Wales; hence they were called ‘Walers.’ No one then could ride Bill when they were at the Liverpool marshalling yards in Sydney, so he was called, ‘Bill the Bastard.’ Bill was one of 130,000 horses sent over for the war effort in the Middle East.

My grand uncle, Michael Shanahan, was born in Roma, Queensland. After the war, Mick was often known as ‘The Major.’ He went over in the Second Light Horse Regiment as a Lieutenant and came back as a Major. He met Bill in Egypt and wanted him for his own mount. Banjo Paterson (1864-1941) – yes, that ‘Banjo’ – was Mick’s superior officer in the Remount Group, and Mick managed to convince the Banjo to let him have Bill. The Major used to encourage Bill with liquorice-all-sorts, but apparently, you could never really tame Bill.

On 3-5 August 1916, Bill and Mick fought in the Battle of Romani. The Turkish, British, and Australian forces all desperately needed to take control of the water wells. Bill and his mates charged the Turkish machine-gunners and the wells were captured.

During this battle, Mick rescued four Tasmanian soldiers whose horses had been shot out from under them. He lifted them onto Bill’s back with him while Bill trudged back through the desert sand. It is amazing that Bill could carry these four Tassie........

© Pearls and Irritations