...Shameful... Completely shameful to mock and/or insult ANY serviceman... these people should be honoured and celebrated for a job that 99% of us could not even contemplate.......
......Here's the article.....
'Bludger' remark about Diggers on New Zealand radio angers the RSL
- The Sunday Mail (Qld)
- April 22, 2012
- Radio panel critical of Australian soldiers
- Journalist says they are "essentially lazy bludgers"
- RSL says comments are disappointing and insulting
A rifle stands on the shore of Anzac Cove in Gallipoli. Picture: File
RSL chiefs have been outraged by an insulting trans-Tasman attack on Australia's Gallipoli heroes.
Freelance journalist Josie McNaught said she was "so sick of hearing that ridiculous cliche'' that Australia's national identity was forged at Gallipoli.
Fellow guest, veteran journalist Jock Anderson then weighed in with: "Aussies have been reluctant soldiers at the best of times.
"And they've been essentially lazy bludgers, some of them, and excellent black marketeers, scavengers, poachers and thieves.''
Occasionally the Diggers had been quite good soldiers, Anderson said. "But there is no way they can hold a candle, in my opinion, to the Kiwis.'' The panel was discussing a recent book by former Australian Army officer and Department of Veterans Affairs historian Graham Wilson, who says that many Gallipoli myths have developed.
RSL Queensland chairman Terry Meehan said the comments were "disappointing'' and insulting to the many thousands of young soldiers who fought, and in many cases, lost their lives.
"The use of the term 'bludgers' I find outrageous,'' Mr Meehan said.
The criticism carried an extra sting coming from Kiwis.
"They have been our allies essentially since World War I. I have never heard Australians talk about New Zealanders in such a way,'' Mr Meehan said.
"Gallipoli was where the Anzac legend started - and it's continued right through history.''
Meanwhile, a survey by McCrindle Research shows that 95 per cent of Australians agree that: "The spirit of Anzac Day (with its human qualities of courage, mateship and sacrifice) continues to have meaning and relevance for our sense of national identity.''
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