Honouring the fallen: hundreds turn out for Anzac Day service

‘We will remember them’: Anzac Day dawn service guest speaker Commander Yvonne Gray, of Royal New Zealand Navy ship HMNZS Manawanui, stressed the need to “ensure the names of those who made the ultimate sacrifice for New Zealand are not forgotten”. The Harvard vintage plane is pictured roaring across the sky above the Cenotaph. Pictures by Paul Rickard

“We will remember them”  is not a cliché.

Anzac Day guest speaker Commander Yvonne Gray — the commanding officer of Royal New Zealand Navy ship HMNZS Manawanui — urged military veterans, serving personnel and the public who gathered at the Cenotaph for the dawn service yesterday to do just that.

“We who are gathered here should do all that we can to ensure that the names of those who made the ultimate sacrifice for New Zealand are not forgotten, and their names do not go unspoken,” Commander Gray said.

“Think about what they endured, think about the pain suffered, the lives cut short, dreams unfulfilled, and the grief felt by all those left behind.”

The numbers who gathered at the Cenotaph (hundreds of people), and the strength of community spirit shown in recent months, proved those lives lost in war had not been lost in vain, she said.

She described the Cenotaph, officially unveiled as 100 years old yesterday, as “a powerful symbol of sacred obligation” to honour the country’s war dead.

Commander Gray often had to stop speaking during her service address as aircraft flew overhead to add to the ambience of the occasion which, despite a chilly morning, attracted a 6am public turn-out that Gisborne RSA president Trevor Jukes described as magnificent.

Mr Jukes estimated between 250 and 300 people marched to the service.

“Everyone from Manawanui was fantastic. It was one happy family.”

Mr Jukes said there were two reasons for having the same format as last year — a dawn service only.

The RSA wanted to ensure Anzac Day was about commemorating the events of the past while the capabilities of those who had served many years ago needed to be remembered.

Those issues were best achieved by having one dawn service.

Mayor Rehette Stoltz reminded those present that the New Zealand Defence Force also played a vital role in peace-time when she spoke of the role of Manawanui and its crew in providing Gisborne with water and other much-needed supplies in the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle.

She could not sufficiently thank Commander Gray and her crew, she said.

Commander Gray said it had been a honour to support Gisborne — the home port of the specialist dive and hydrographic vessel. It was unfortunate that Manawanui was in Devonport being refitted but there were crew members in Gisborne to commemorate Anzac Day.

Mayor Stoltz welcomed Commander James Dunn, of the Royal Navy, who was representing the embassy of the United Kingdom.

“Today we think of those in our communities who have experienced war and conflict, those whose lives have been lost, our veterans, our armed services and the families of the fallen” and New Zealanders currently serving around the world, Mayor Stoltz said.