Sunday, April 25, 1915, at dawn, under Turkish heavy machine gun fire: “Off at one this morning, and about dawn we heard a terrific bombardment … our battalion packed on three or four barges and a destroyer towed us towards the shore as far as she could … then cast us adrift. That position was scarcely safe for bullets were flying all round hitting the boat …. Some of us waded neck-high to shore ….” So reads one soldier’s diary account of the Gallipoli landing.

When war broke out in 1914, Australia was a very young nation, only 13 years having passed since federation. The new national government went to war in support of Great Britain and its allies, eager to support the “mother country” in the fight for peace and establish its own reputation among the nations of the world. In 1915, the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (Anzacs) formed part of the Allied expedition that set out to capture the Gallipoli peninsula. This was to be the first major military action fought by Anzac forces during the First World War. Seen as a strategic imperative, successful capture of Gallipoli from the Turks would have opened the Dardanelles to the Allied navies. The ultimate objective was to capture Constantinople (now Istanbul in Turkey), the capital of the Ottoman Empire, which was allied with Germany.

Unfortunately for the Allies, the Gallipoli campaign was infamously unsuccessful. What was proposed to be an easy routing of Turkish forces ground on for over eight months, with heavy Allied losses to the tune of 100,000 lives. Over 10,000 were Anzacs. The remaining forces were eventually evacuated. Jan. 9, 1916 ended a military disaster that produced half a million casualties and left buried behind approximately a quarter of the landing forces. However, the heroism of the Anzac troops under such shocking and devastating conditions became legend in both Australia and New Zealand.

Anzac Day—April 25—has historically been considered one of Australia’s most important annual occasions of national remembrance, marking the anniversary of that Gallipoli landing.

Ninety-five years have elapsed since all fell quiet on the Western Front of World War i. Within that period of time, the Anzacs have risen to the occasion to aid their English-speaking allies in World War ii, in Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq.

While its historic roots have not been forgotten, the meaning of Anzac Day has since been broadened to the extent that it serves to commemorate the lives of Australians lost in all military operations in which Australian armed forces have been involved—whether theaters of war or peacekeeping operations.

At dawn, all over Australia, commemorative services are held. More formal ceremonies are conducted at war memorials across the nation. Later in the day, ex-servicemen and women meet to take part in marches through the major cities and in many smaller centers. Anzac Day is a time when Australians acknowledge the service of their veterans and reflect upon the many sacrifices made and lives lost to purchase peace both at home and abroad.

Of course, these Australian lives are just a tiny proportion of the sad litany of tragic war dead, of all peoples, throughout the history of man. Has it been worth it? Did their loss of life purchase lasting peace? At best, they have bought a few years, maybe decades of peace—at worst, enslavement and tyranny for decades or even centuries. Human history is one of constant conflict and war—rarely, if ever, has there been a moment when there was not warfare on this planet.

Post-World War ii history is littered with efforts to achieve peace in this world. Yet war continues to prevail. Modern peace efforts extend beyond United Nations initiatives to include a multitude of plans for peace, road maps to it, negotiated conditions, treaties, corps, international troops to keep it or even enforce it—yet always man is drawn back into conflict and war. Today, the scourge of terrorism has inflicted the world over with a new and far less predictable form of warfare. Always the mounting price can be numbered in human casualties.

Man clearly doesn’t know the way to peace (Romans 3:17). As the Prophet Jeremiah wrote, leaders today would be “saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace” (see Jeremiah 6:14; 8:11).

Yet, for a very brief moment on the international stage, one man did introduce the way of lasting peace to this dying world. Herbert W. Armstrong, recognized by heads of state, leaders in government and industry around the world, was often referred to as an unofficial ambassador for world peace. As our editor in chief, Gerald Flurry, writes in his booklet The Way of Peace Restored Momentarily, Mr. Armstrong taught this way of peace. “Momentarily he spearheaded an example of genuine peace to this world,” Mr. Flurry writes. “Only he could explain what it all meant. And he did so to people around the world.”

Referring to Mideast peace efforts, Mr. Flurry writes, “Obviously, Mr. Armstrong knew they weren’t going to solve the problems and have peace in the world. He knew the prophecies—that this world will end violently, and true peace can only be achieved once the Prince of Peace returns. Still, he did all he could to represent peace and to promote peace in this world, and he demonstrated his strong desire that all men work toward that end today.”

For example, on the May 3, 1979, telecast of his internationally renowned television program The World Tomorrow, Mr. Armstrong, speaking of the famous Sermon on the Mount, emphasized that Jesus Christ said, “‘Blessed are the peacemakers …’—those that make for peace and know the way of peace.”

Mr. Armstrong had a way of getting right to the heart of a matter: “If all nations obeyed [the Sixth] Commandment, and followed the way of love toward other humans—and other nations—there would be no wars” (Military Service and War).

He elaborated on the way of peace in his literature, teaching directly from the pages of the Bible in his inimitable style, with a simplicity and clarity that even a child could understand (ibid):

In respect to war, the basic teaching of God—His basic law respecting war, military service, and killing, therefore, is the Sixth Commandment: “Thou shalt not kill.” …The whole question of the right or wrong of military service, bearing arms, and killing, revolves on the question: “Is it sin?” …Military service, bearing arms (for use against humans), killing, war, is directly contrary to God’s law in principle! It is not the way of giving, sharing, helping, serving.

April 25 marks the 98th anniversary of the ill-fated Gallipoli landing. It has now been almost 70 years since Australia was called upon to mobilize for a battle of global proportions to protect the precious freedoms of which the English-speaking peoples have been guarantors for over 200 years. Several generations have not directly experienced the tragic effects of war—family sacrifice, the loss of loved ones—as their grandparents and great-grandparents did.

Their courageous sacrifice—along with that of their fellow allies—helped to purchase the relative peace the English-speaking peoples have come to take for granted. Today, having enjoyed the fruits of comparative peace for so long—the bloody price in human lives and physical, mental and emotional scars long ago paid—so many have forgotten how it was purchased.

Ultimately the way of peace will be freely given to all mankind. World peace won’t cost an ever increasing toll of human casualty and death. Even now, today, that way of peace can be accessed by those whose minds are open and willing to learn it. What value do you place on world peace? It must begin first in your own life.

As Mr. Flurry writes in The Way of Peace Restored Momentarily, “Mr. Armstrong taught the world the way of peace, and it was and still is a prelude to world peace! Not just peace for one church, or one state, or one nation—God is about to bring world peace!”

He is about to introduce mankind to the way of peace—to give humanity true peace forever. Read The Way of Peace Restored Momentarily and study what Herbert Armstrong taught on this subject so that you too can become a peacemaker and live the joyful way of peace.