Today, throughout New Zealand, and elsewhere in the world where New Zealanders gather, we will remember them.
At dawn services and Anzac parades, serving military personnel, returned service personnel, their families, and others wanting to pay their respects to the fallen will gather to pray, sing hymns, lay wreaths and listen to the haunting notes of the Last Post ring out. Veterans will march wearing their medals, descendants will proudly don the decorations of family members who served everywhere from the unforgiving shores of Gallipoli and trenches of the Western Front in World War I, to Crete and North Africa during World War II, to more recent conflicts in Korea, Vietnam, and elsewhere.
These past four years have been particularly poignant as the world has marked the centenary of World War I. As the 100th anniversary of individual battles is noted, cities and tiny townships the length and breadth of the country have remembered their fallen by erecting white crosses in their war cemeteries or around their war memorials. They - like the long lists of names etched on the many monuments to the fallen - have served as a shocking visual reminder of the scale of the loss suffered by families and communities, of the sacrifice made by young New Zealanders.
Wartime services were often about patriotism; now, the focus is on remembrance. Increasingly, too, we are encouraged to think about the treatment of conscientious objectors, and the vital role of peacemakers.
That is important. War should not be glorified, nor be embarked on lightly. Diplomacy must be encouraged as a way of avoiding and settling disputes. Peace should be our guiding force, lest we forget all those who died that we may enjoy it.
