The PR Blog

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning.

Lest we forget

The Last Post would be familiar to all Australians and New Zealanders from an early age. It is played at every ANZAC Day ceremony by a bugler in an army uniform and frequently at funerals of soldiers and veterans.

Does the average civilian attendee understand the significance of this quasi-musical interlude? Is it an entertainment piece that everyone expects to hear because it is always part of the programme like the hymn “Oh God our Help in Ages Past”?

The Last Post is one of the most ancient tools used by modern British founded armies and has its roots in the days of the Roman Empire when horns were used to play the hymn of the Goddess Diana and as signals to command troops on the battlefield. Even to this day, the French term for what we call e reveille is La Diana.

A Polish friend of mine in Vegas, Paul P., was hosting his sister-in-law from back home. Mariola is quite cultured, beautiful, speaks nearly perfect English, and is very politically savvy – – – she was the protoge’ of economics professor Leszek Balcerowicz who became Poland’s first post-communist finance minister.

On the way back from Los Angeles, they passed a highwayman, ah, that is, a Highway Patrol officer, along the side of the road rummaging through a motorist’s open trunk.

This message is for all freedom-loving patriots in western society but more specifically I wish to speak directly to my Aussie and Kiwi mates today… Most Australians and New Zealanders are very aware of the significance of ANZAC Day…

For those of you who are unfamiliar with ANZAC Day…it’s a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand that commemorates all those Australians and New Zealanders who served and died in all wars.

It is observed on 25th April each year. Originally ANZAC Day was to honor the members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) forces who, in WWI, landed at Gallipoli on 25 April, meeting fierce resistance.