The Happiness Box

Today is ANZAC Day- the day when we commemorate all those who served and died for Australia in battle from World War I up until the present. It's 98 years today that the first ANZAC (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps) soldiers arrived on the beaches of Gallipoli, Turkey in 1915.

Today I read a book. Now, that's nothing unusual, but this book is special. It's called The Happiness Box.

The Happiness Box was written in 1942 by Sgt David Griffin, an Australian solider who was a Prisoner of War by the Japanese in Singapore. I first came across it last year when I was in Singapore and took the Changi World War Two tour.
Basically, in 1942, some of the POWs wanted to make Christmas gifts for the children who were interned in the prisons alongside them. Some of them made toys, but David Griffin, knowing he had no talent for making toys, decided to write a book for the children instead.

The Happiness Box tells the story of three friends- Martin the Monkey, Wobbley the Frog and Winston the Chi Chak (a Malayan lizard) who live together in a little house in the jungle.

A Chi Chak... pretty much a gekko

All the presents had to be checked by the Japanese. And when they saw that one of the characters was called Winston, they became suspicious that the book was actually a code for the Allies (you know, Winston... Winston Churchill. Get it?).
Some of the POWs managed to grab the book, and they hid it in an ammunition container and buried it somewhere in the grounds of the prison camp. After the war, they dug the book up and took it back to Australia, where it made its way to the State Library of NSW.

It's a sweet little book, but it's really amazing to read it and know what the author went through, why he was writing the book and the people he was writing the book for- children living imprisoned in a crowded and awful gaol.

It's only been available for public purchase since 1991. I assume you can buy it in Australia... I'd never seen it or heard of it (I don't think) until I went to Singapore, but our tour guide said it was a pretty big sale for tour groups and visitors.

The best example I can think of to sum up the essence of the book, is this quote. All you have to know is that Martin, Wobbley and Winston found a box in the jungle. Inside were 3 books, one for each of them.

Then Winston, who was very clever, said, "I will tell you what they mean. They mean that we three must go out into the world and teach our neighbours how to be clever, industrious and kind, so that they can all be as happy as we." 

I think that pretty much says it all.

Lest we forget.

Lest we forget

Today is April 25th, ANZAC Day.

ANZAC day (for my American friends) is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand.

It is the day we remember all those who have fought for our country in battle. The date, April 25 is the anniversary of the day when the ANZAC (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps) soldiers first landed at Gallipoli (in Turkey) in 1915.
The ANZAC soldiers were there with the Allies to help the British capture the Gallipoli peninsula. Winston Churchill had a plan that by doing so, it would open the Black Sea to the Allies.

In reality, it became eight months of the Allied soldiers camping out on the beach in the cold and wet, being shot at and ambushed by the Turkish soldiers.
By the time the campaign ended, 21, 255 British, 10,000 French, 8, 709 Australian, 2, 721 New Zealand and 1, 358 Indians (which was then still a British colony) soldiers had died.

But it is not just a day to remember the sacrifice the men made for their country. It is a day which we commemorate what has become a huge part of the Australian national identity.

So many stories came out of Gallipoli, about Australian soldiers who had lied about their age to be able to join the war.
One of my favourites is the story of John Simpson Kirkpatrick, most commonly known just by the phrase "Simpson and his donkey". Simpson was a stretcher-bearer with the ANZACs at Gallipoli, and upon arrival at ANZAC Cove (as it is now known), he found a donkey and used that to transport injured soliders between the fighting and the camp.
After only three weeks, Simpson was shot and died, but the donkey, so well trained by now, continued on its way and got the injured men on it's back, back to where there was medical aid.

The British soliders, according to sources, were amazed at the attitude of the Australian soliders.

They waited neither for orders nor for the boats to reach the beach, but, springing out into the sea, they waded ashore, and, forming some sort of rough line, rushed straight on the flashes of the enemy’s rifles.

That was from a report about the ANZACs from 8 May 1915.

 Anzac stood, and still stands, for reckless valor in a good cause, for enterprise, resourcefulness, fidelity, comradeship, and endurance that will never own defeat.

ANZAC's came to represent all the characteristics of Australians. Stories of bravery, mateship, where everyone was equal and there were no real officers and enlisted soliders. Everyone fought alongside one another and helped one another whenever possible.

So, today we remember all those ANZACs who fought not only in Gallipoli, but in every battle since and those who represent the ANZAC spirit.

"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them."

Lest we forget.