Every year on 25th April both New Zealand and Australia have a memorial day called ANZAC Day.  ANZAC day is the equivalent of the US Memorial Day or the UK Remembrance Day.    Commemorative services start at dawn in both countries and also in Turkey.  It commemorates all New Zealanders and Australian’s killed in war and also honours returned servicemen and women.

The date itself marks the anniversary of the landing of New Zealand and Australian soldiers – the ANZACs – on the Gallipoli Peninsula, in Turkey in 1915.

For this year, I thought I’d (re)share some of my Grandad’s WW2 photos of him and his mates from the 2NZEF based in Egypt.  He fought in Libya in the Operation Crusader Campaign and then the first and second battles of El Alamein in Egypt.

My Grandfather’s brother also served in the Middle East.  He didn’t survived the war.  He was killed in action in Libya in 1941.

If you haven’t read my Grandfather’s diary, I highly recommend it.  Its very interesting reading.

And in memorial to his brother – Lest We Forget – Keith Sillars.

For more information about New Zealand’s ANZAC history, I recommend this series of pages on NZHistory.