Anzac survivor's memories relived at Tauranga service

A soldier stands at Tauranga's Anzac Day service at Greerton's RSA. Photo/George Novak

Around 500 people gathered at the Tauranga RSA to commemorate Anzac Day this morning.

In a gentle breeze under a dark sky, the crowd stood solemn and silent - apart from the muffled beeping of a phone alarm clock - as the parade of about 100 veterans, servicemen and women, cadets and local children marched in, lead by the Scottish marching band.

Reverand Sam Held offered prayers of remembrance for all who served and those that loved and cared for them, and that their sacrifice was not in vain.

"We pray that the liberty, truth and justice which they sought to preserve may be seen and known in all the nations upon the earth."

The mood was sombre and silent as dawn broke over Tauranga's Anzac Day service this morning. Photo/George Novak

RSA president Heather Waldron gave her final Anzac dedication in the role, which she will step down from within the year after a three-year term.

She then accompanied Mayor Greg Brownless to lay wreaths at the base of the cenotaph in memory of the fallen.

After the ode, the Tauranga Silver City Brass Band played the Last Post as the flag orderly, veteran Albie Osborne, lowered the flag to half mast.

A minutes' silence was held before the band played the Reveille.

The guest speaker was Captain William Brewer, a fifth-generation Army officer with the Tauranga-based Hauraki company 3/6 Battalion reserves.

Men fell like nine pins and there was a stream of slightly wounded making for the dressing station; but we hung on and gradually got dug down a bit into the hardest ground I ever stuck a pick into.

Solider Charles Lepper

He spoke of Anzac day as the renewal of New Zealand's commitment to an international order in which "war has no place".

Brewer read excerpts from a letter his grandfather Charles Lepper had sent home to his parents in 1915 about his experience at Gallipoli on August 8, the day Wellington Battalion captured Chunuk Bair:

"At 4am we marched up on to the hill and were digging ourselves in when daylight came, and the Turks saw us, and didn't we get proper Hell.

"Men fell like nine pins and there was a stream of slightly wounded making for the dressing station; but we hung on and gradually got dug down a bit into the hardest ground I ever stuck a pick into."

Captain William Brewer read excerpts from a letter his grandfather wrote from Gallipoli. Photo/George Novak

By midnight Lepper was one of only three left standing - and the only one to have been "in the scrap" - of the 250 men of the Main Body of the Taranaki Company.

"I suppose I have been very lucky," Lepper wrote.

Brewer said his grandfather returned home to Taranaki to "raise cows and children", but died young having never recovered from the war.

Students Lisa Owen, head girl of Tauranga Girls' College, and Ethan Hahunga, Tauranga Boys' College prefect, read a poem and Reverand Held gave the benediction.

The band played the Australian and New Zealand national anthems and the service ended as the parade marched out.

Many stayed on for a cuppa and breakfast, catching up as members of the RSA executive flitted round with bottles of rum to fortify the coffees of anyone willing - there were plenty of takers.

Wreaths laid at the cenotaph during the Tauranga Anzac service. Photo/George Novak