THE ANZAC SPIRIT – A MARK OF THE CREATOR

As Remembrance Day approaches, I find myself reflecting on the extraordinary things people do in war. Acts of courage, devotion, and sacrifice that defy human logic.
Three things, in particular, stand out as defining the ANZAC spirit:

• The determination to see something through and a commitment to a cause despite impossible odds.

• A genuine care and concern, a love, for the ones you walk beside.

• A willingness to lay down your life so that others may live.

This, I believe, is the ANZAC spirit we honour every year, a spirit that continues to echo through generations of Australians.

I want to share three stories. One you’ll likely know, one you may not, and one you probably don’t. Each shows a different face of that spirit.

1. Determination and Commitment Under Extreme Circumstances - 1 Section, 3rd Machine Gun Company

In March 1918, No. 1 Section of the 3rd Machine Gun Company received an order that was, by every standard, suicidal. Their assigned position had a field of fire barely six metres to the front, making it impossible to defend.
Lieutenant Bethune, their commander, knew that when the Germans attacked, his men would almost certainly be killed before they could even bring their guns into action.

He gathered his section and told them plainly, “We’ve been ordered to take a position we may not come back from.”
Then he asked for volunteers. Every man stepped forward.

He chose six and moved into position, where they issued what became one of the most remarkable orders in Australian military history:

Special Orders – No. 1 Section, 3rd Machine Gun Company, 13 March 1918

The position will be held and the section will remain here until relieved.

The enemy cannot be allowed to interfere with this programme.

If the section cannot remain here alive, it will remain here dead, but in any case, it will remain here.

Should any man, through shell shock or other cause, attempt to surrender, he will remain here dead.

Should all guns be blown out, the section will use grenades and other novelties.

Finally, the position, as stated, will be held.

They held that position for eighteen days under relentless fire, exhaustion, and unimaginable conditions. Their endurance and obedience were a living example of determination and commitment beyond reason, a devotion that inspires us still.

2. Genuine Care and Concern for Those You Walk With – WO2 Kevin Wheatley VC

On 13 November 1965, Warrant Officer Class II Kevin Wheatley and his fellow Australian, WO2 Ronald Swanton, were attached to a Vietnamese Civil Irregular Defence Group company on a search and destroy mission in the Trà Bồng Valley, Quảng Ngãi Province, South Vietnam.

When the company made contact with a large Viet Cong force, Swanton began carrying a wounded Vietnamese soldier from the open paddies to cover.
Under intense enemy fire, he was struck in the chest or abdomen and fell severely wounded. A Vietnamese medic attended to him and told Wheatley that Swanton would not survive.

But Wheatley refused to leave him.

Discarding his radio, he half-carried and dragged his dying mate toward cover as enemy fire closed in to within ten metres. With ammunition nearly gone, Wheatley pulled the pins from his last two grenades, one in each hand, and took a defensive position beside the motionless Swanton.

The next morning, both men were found dead, side by side.

In that moment, Wheatley made the ultimate choice: to stay with his mate rather than save himself. His decision was not driven by duty or instinct but by love, loyalty, and courage beyond measure.

3. A Willingness to Sacrifice One’s Own Life to Save Others – CPL Daniel Keighran VC

During the Battle of Derapet in Afghanistan, Corporal Daniel Keighran of 6 RAR found himself in the midst of a fierce engagement. One of his platoon mates lay critically wounded while others tried desperately to save him under heavy Taliban machine-gun fire.

Keighran repeatedly exposed himself to direct fire to draw attention away from the wounded soldier and his rescuers. His actions allowed the medical team to withdraw without further casualties, and eventually the enemy position was silenced.

That kind of courage, deliberate, conscious, and repeated, reflects the very essence of the ANZAC spirit: the willingness to give everything for another.

Where Does This Spirit Come From?

These stories raise important questions.
What makes someone do such extraordinary things?
What moves them to give up their life, their future, and their loved ones for others?

These traits, courage, compassion, and sacrifice, are not unique to Australians.
We see them in soldiers, police, firefighters, doctors, nurses, and ordinary people the world over. They are part of humanity itself.

So where do they come from?

Genesis 1:26 – “Then God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”

These qualities are marks of our Creator. We were made in His image, designed to reflect His heart. The ANZAC spirit did not begin with us. It began with Him.

Nothing else in creation was made this way. Sacrifice is not instinct; it is choice.
Instinct reacts; choice decides. Love chooses to prefer another above oneself.

The very acts we honour on ANZAC and Remembrance Day stand in contrast to evolutionary thought, which prizes survival of the fittest. Yet we honour those who gave up their survival so others could live. No nation sends its weakest to war; we send our best. And the best chose to die for the rest.

Where Do We See This in God?

We see it most clearly in Jesus Christ.
The Bible tells us that all things were created by Him and for Him, and that to reconcile man to God, He became man and gave His life so that we might live.

Commitment and Determination Under Extreme Circumstances - When Jesus went to the cross

Isaiah 50:6 – “I gave my back to those who struck me and my cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide my face from shame and spitting.”
Isaiah 52:14 – “His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man.”

Beaten, scourged, crowned with thorns, nailed to a cross, yet He stayed on that cross.

Matthew 26:53 – “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and He will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?”

He could have stopped His suffering at any moment, but He chose to continue for our sake.

Genuine Care and Concern for Others

Luke 23:34 – “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Even in agony, He prayed for His persecutors. Even now He is willing to save anyone, even those who have despised Him, actively sought to harm his people and have denied him. Before coming to Jesus, the Apostle Paul was one of the greatest persecutors of Christians of his time, but Jesus was still willing to save him.

Willingness to Sacrifice One’s Life to Save Others

1 Peter 1:18–20 – “He was chosen before the foundation of the world.”
John 15:13 – “Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”

Before creation itself, Jesus knew what His sacrifice would cost, and He still chose it.

Love, Commitment, and Sacrifice

Love leads to commitment.
Commitment leads to sacrifice.
Together these three (love, committment, sacrifice) bring victory.

Without them, past generations would not have secured our freedom.
Without them, future generations will not keep it.

So as we remember those who have gone before us, those who held the line, stayed with their mates, and laid down their lives, let us never forget the One whose image they reflect.

Understanding where the ANZAC spirit truly comes from is the beginning of understanding what true freedom really is.