ABC TV
‘Anzac to Afghanistan’, Four Corners, 13 April 2015
Chris Masters intersperses interviews with Gallipoli veterans from 1988 and Afghanistan veterans from recent years, noting the similarities and differences in their experience. Also contributing are James Brown, author of Anzac’s Long Shadow, and Brendan Nelson, Director of the Australian War Memorial.
CHRIS MASTERS: The soldiers from both eras would say that what makes the ordinary heroic is the strength they draw from each other.
BRENDAN NELSON: In the end it’s about their friendship, their mateship with one another – whether that be men or women – and their love of one another. They go away to serve our country but in the end they fight and die to protect one another. And one of the observations that, ah, has been made, with which I agree: that in the end, ah, it’s not so much about war: it’s about friendship and love.
Alison Broinowski reviews the episode for Honest History. Alan Stephens reviews the Afghanistan exhibition at the Australian War Memorial. (Online version of the exhibition.) Michael Brissenden and Tom Hyland write about restrictions on media reporting of the war. Chris Masters writes on Australian soldiers today, including in Afghanistan.