Fed:Rudd takes salute at national Anzac service at war memorial=3

AAP General News (Australia)
04-25-2008
Fed:Rudd takes salute at national Anzac service at war memorial=3

Mr Rudd mused on what the 100,000 men and women who have died in war would say to us
today, if they could.

"What is it about their stories that wrenches us still, fully 90 years after the armistice
that ended the war to end all wars?

"I think it is this.

"That whatever the comforts of our modern age, whatever its distractions, and whatever
its disillusionments, there is something unique about this land Australia and the ideals
for which we Australians stand.

"That this is a place of unparalleled beauty, that we are a good people who want for
the good of others, that we stand for a deep sense of liberty for which our forebears
fought and which should never be surrendered, whatever the cost.

"That we are a people who by instinct cannot stand idly by and be indifferent to the
sufferings of others.

"A people with a sense of the fair go for all carved deep into our national soul.

"A people also alert to the needs of our friends and out allies."

These were the values that summoned forth the sons and daughters of Anzac during the
last century, he said.

"It is this, I believe, that touches us afresh each new Anzac morning."

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KEYWORD: ANZAC RUDD 3 CANBERRA

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