Remembering their sacrifices

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

The crowd that gathered in front of the Cenotaph on a cold autumn morning in Gisborne yesterday showed that the relevance of Anzac Day remains strong 108 years after the disastrous Gallipoli campaign.

As guest speaker Commander Yvonne Gray of HMNZS Manawanui said, the words “We shall remember them” are not a cliché.

She invited the crowd to think what they endured, the pain suffered, the lives cut short and dreams unfulfilled, and the grief of those left behind. The numbers attending and the community spirit shown in recent months proved the lives lost in war had not been in vain, she said.

Manawanui and its crew were thanked by Mayor Rehette Stoltz for their role in bringing much needed supplies after Cyclone Gabrielle.

Gisborne RSA president Trevor Jukes described the public turnout at the early hour of 6am as magnificent. He estimated 250 to 300 people marched to the dawn service, where they were joined by a crowd of about 1500.

Mr Jukes said having a dawn service only helped the RSA achieve its focus on ensuring Anzac Day was about commemorating the events of the past while remembering the capabilities of those who had served.

Frequent flyovers by aircraft all added to the ambience of the occasion which also marked the 100th anniversary of the Cenotaph.

Other traditional gatherings were held throughout Tairawhiti.

Around the country large crowds gathered to take advantage of the first fully post-Covid Anzac Day, with large gatherings in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

Sadly after about 2700 New Zealanders lost their lives at Gallipoli, followed by thousands more in World War 2 and the following conflicts, the international scene is not an encouraging one.

Once a sheltered part of the world, the Pacific is now seeing rising tensions between China on the one hand and the United States and Australia on the other.

Australia has taken a more belligerent attitude to China by joining the US and Britain in AUKUS, which will see it obtain nuclear-powered submarines, and announcing it will spend $1.4 billion on advanced missile systems.

AUKUS provides a headache for New Zealand which will want to keep close military co-operation with Australia while trying not to offend its main trading partner China.

That is for the future — yesterday was all about remembering the sacrifices of many thousands of servicemen and women since April 25, 1915.