He wishes he could forget

He sat there, the veteran of an unnecessary war on the brink of tears, explaining to me what it was like to aim a gun at someone you had just shared a meal with. Today was one of the more moving experiences I have had since being in Argentina.

Today was, for my foreign readers, wow I hope there are some, ANZAC day in my home country of Australia. The 25th of April marks a day where Australians come together and remember those who have fallen serving Australia in wars gone by as well as the current crop of Australians serving overseas. The current celebrations of ANZAC day are hotly contested at this time of year, but I am not going to contribute to that debate. Much.

Today, Friday, was the fifth and final day of my level 4A Spanish class. During the last week my professor has been Daniel, an elderly Argentinean man, who, honestly, I thought was a little seedy and slightly odd when I first met him. He turned out to be a brilliant teacher, a great bloke as well as an insightful and very knowledgeable historian in regard to the history of Argentina. The group of 6 of us in his class were from Brazil, Australia, France, Israel, Canada and Switzerland. A global mix. Today we got talking about various national holidays that our respective countries take part in. What initiated this was the discovery that this year, Argentina will have 28 days off work due to public holidays. 28 days! That’s more annual leave than a lot of people get! Unbelievable.

Anyway, I brought up that today was ANZAC day and what the significance of that was for Australians. We chatted a little about it, before the Argentine equivalent, April 2nd; Dia de Las Malvinas, came into the conversation. Our talkative professor, Daniel, suddenly went quiet. Las Islas de Malvinas is the Spanish name for the Falkland Islands; and the 2nd of April is the day of remembrance for the 700 Argentinians who died in the Falklands War between Britain and Argentina in 1982.

Daniel was a veteran of that war. As a police solider. His role was to ensure discipline amongst the troops. A hated and unbelievably difficult role. This, at times, involved shooting at his fellow Argentinians that were fleeing from their line of duty. He did not choose this role, but as he was a professional soldier for a period, it was assigned to him by the ruling government which, at that time, was an unelected military junta. His sentiments towards April 2nd were, to say the least, different to the views of the majority of Australians to ANZAC day.

For him, April the 2nd is not a happy day. The Falklands war war was not a war, it was a demolition. Britain had an army far more massive and far too well equipped as well as better generals and more professional soldiers than that of Argentina. The Argentinean army was used as a political pawn by the illegitimate military government. They were showcased to be ‘winning the war’ in the press when they were not. Half of the guns that the Argentinians were using had bent barrels, or did not work at all. The worst thing about it, Daniel continued, was that veterans who returned home to Argentina had zero economic, social or medical support from the government that had sent them. A horrifying amount of them committed suicide in the years after they returned. Even now, thirty years later, a large portion of the homeless population in Argentina is made up of Falkland veterans.

When he asked me about how Australian veterans are treated now, I told the awkward truth. Very well. He looked me straight in the eye, slightly envious, and said, ‘Bueno. Muy bueno. Como así lo debería’. (Good, it should be like this.)
In an amazing turn of fate, Daniel’s first child, a daughter, was born on April 2nd. For him, that is the silver lining for an otherwise very difficult time in his life that comes around every year.

It got me thinking a little bit about the ANZAC story. I have often thought, the last few years, that the message has been a little lost in the megalitres of beer consumed on the day in the last couple of years by youths (of which I have been a part of) who feel that raising a glass or 15 to honour those who died for their country is the best way of paying respects. Is it? Probably not. Does the current ANZAC day romanticize war? To some extent, yes. Should the government spend millions of dollars on it every year? Probably not.

Why don’t we ask veterans what they want? It’s about them, if they they feel that their perished mates would not have minded their grandchildren getting blind on this day in the name of ‘commemoration’ then who are we to tell them otherwise?

But how about we forget the debate that will no doubt continue for the next 100 years and be thankful that we have a fantastic war-widows pension, RSL clubs, Legacy and other organsations that are there to support those who, willingly or not, fought in the name of Australia. Can we not use the day to celebrate how bloody lucky we are to have a society  who will care for returning soldiers? Please let us not forget that ANZAC day is about the soldiers. It isn’t about us.

Stop being selfish. Some people, like Daniel, wish they were seen in the light that Australian soldiers, past and present, often are. Have a thought for them.