SOME may think that the battlefields of the Somme, Vietnam and beyond were just about despair beyond words and that suffering had the last word.
Never.
To give into hopelessness would be to fail to honour the many examples of noble sacrifice, mateship, looking out for each other, service and doing one’s duty.
Each such action then is a living example to us now, in 2026 – where we need them more than ever to inspire us to action to serve and walk alongside the most vulnerable and needy in our time.
We are called and urged by such times to serve others in the community and to live life as well as we can right here.
To serve beyond what we think are our limitations.
Let’s reflect on what Anzac Day can mean for our living and for our work right now.
And lest we not notice that every day currently serving Defence members and veterans watch out for each other.
Each serves Australia still in much-needed ways – thank God for all of them.
111 years ago, at Gallipoli, all seemed lost.
Yet despite the carnage, deafening despair and mayhem, duty, service and sacrifice were the clarion calls to service above self.
We can think of Private John Simpson and many other perhaps unknown examples – bandaging wounds, getting the wounded to safety and the 3000 compassionate nurses getting a 21st-century take on the Good Samaritan story.
Put another way, “despair” can never have the last word.
There is no war-torn gully, paddock or village (then or now), nor any dark corner of desolation that loving light cannot well and truly penetrate.
So in this light, let’s do what we can, where we can, with what we have, when we can – in service of others – today.
Those from the Dardenelles and well beyond helped forge our nation’s identity in a horrific crucible where the superfluous is burnt away and all that is left is service, focus on the other, and true love.
These efforts, then and now, seen and unseen, heralded and sometimes forgotten, shaped this great southern land.
Across a century from Gallipoli and more recently from Singapore, Burma, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, to name a few, these noble ones call forward our highest order selves and our best efforts – to do our duty and to serve others in good and in troubled times by all necessary and audacious means.
Never is “mayhem” the last word; of course not, because now, like in earlier close-fought affairs and near run times, our Australian hearts serving in hospitals, halls and hearths are moved to action and given over to assist the lost, and to care for the sad, the wounded, flood affected, the fire-shocked and the homeless.
Taken to safety, fed, bandaged, listened to, then led gently away to row upon row of mattresses to dream better dreams.
We are not a different people to those who suffered in the war to end all wars.
Rather, we are their modern inheritors.
I give thanks for all who work tirelessly to counter where despair creeps up on so many.
All such service reflects light for those in darkness, hope shining like in khaki and starched nurse capes more than 100 years ago.
Lest we forget and always then to act.
Deacon Peter Devenish-Meares is the co-ordinating chaplain for the 8th Brigade of the Australian Army.
Written by Rev Dcn Peter Devenish-Meares
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