Today is ANZAC Day here in Australia.
(though obviously this picture was taken around Christmastime)

Think Veterans Day if you're American or Remembrance Day in other English-speaking countries.
(ANZAC refers to the 'Australia & New Zealand Army Corps', the first corps of soldiers to fight as Australians rather than just colonials of the British Empire)

Those of you who've been following my uploads for the last few months would know how much joy there is down at this beach.
Children playing in the sand and shallows, dogs chasing after seagulls, fishermen casting off into the clear blue water.
But in the middle of the joggers and cyclists and cars cruising past on a leisurely drive is this simple, almost spartan arch.
Embossed on its pillars the names of those who would've shared that love of this place, and been a part of that milieu in days gone by, but were never to experience again after leaving on the boat to Europe.

I have my reservations about how we commemorate war.
It is a subtle difference between remembrance and glorification and it is all too easy for society to slip from one into the other
So I tend to commemorate quietly.
But when I visit the beach, and take time to read those names on the plaque, even in the depths of a pristine summer's day, I know.

We must never forget.

Theta by  onefurall
Photo by my sister