Vets vow to answer dawn call-P12The stillness of dawn is when Korean War veteran Sandy Rhynd of Whangarei, 78, most strongly feels the presence of lost comrades on Anzac Day.
Mr Rhynd served with the New Zealand Army's 16th Field Regiment in the war in the 1950s, and he remembers Anzac Day parades that were held in the magical Korean dawns. The dead were his friends and colleagues. Most were in their 20s.
"A name for Korea is 'land of the morning calm' and it was ... everything was so still, there was such an atmosphere, such meaning at that time," he says.
Mr Rhynd says he and his mates rarely attended church parades but never missed the Anzac Day dawn parades. Ever since, no parade at any other time, whatever the occasion, has meant quite so much to him as silently honouring his friends when the sun comes above the horizon each April 25.
The roll-call of lost comrades has grown year by year.
Tobacco has accounted for many deaths as the years have rolled on, he says. He has a friend who has found it almost impossible to kick the habit, acquired during war service in Korea.
"He was an 18-year-old, driving a truck up the peninsula, through mine-fields. On the way up he was carrying three tonnes of high-explosive ammunition. On the return trip he carried body bags. Why wouldn't he smoke?"
Mr Rhynd says he and many others had enlisted because it was the only way they were ever going to get overseas.
"We couldn't afford to travel. Those were the days when it cost 17 10p to go to Australia on the SS Wanganella and unless you were going over as a shearer you didn't get any assistance. We joked that going to Korea was a free tour of the Orient at government expense with additional benefits provided by Prime Minister Sid Holland."
They were also attracted by the prospect of being able to go on leave in Japan, which proved to be as interesting as he had hoped "so new to us, such a different lifestyle".
He is delighted to see the pride and interest in New Zealand's military history and its veterans developing among young people, some of them very young.
"Seeing the kids and how they are beginning to feel pride in that history is marvellous," he says.
Mr Rhynd and his wife Kay will be accompanied by five of their grandchildren, ranging from 7 to 12 years of age, at the dawn parade in Whangarei.
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