Craig Cooper: On Anzac Day, we must remember them

COMMENT: Anzac Day is forever enshrined in our nation's history.

Tomorrow, the sacrifices that New Zealand's soldiers have made will be remembered by Kiwis around the world.

Some will have made the pilgrimage to Gallipoli — a visit which has become one of the big ''must-dos'' on a young Kiwi's Overseas Experience.

There was a time when the Anzac Day Gallipoli visit was in danger of becoming another boozy event for young Kiwis to notch up on their OE belts.

Tour companies now discourage drinking at Gallipoli, and the day — and the peninsula — are treated by tourism operators and tourists with the appropriate respect.

At home, thousands will turn out to dawn parades and ceremonies.

Others who are not attending the services may make time to remember in a different way, perhaps over a meal.

Those that we reflect on, may have been killed in action.

Some may have made it home.

They survived, often affected or damaged - physically or mentally - by the experience.

Those of us from generations whose parents, grandparents or relations fought in the war find it easier to contemplate the sacrifice our wartime women and men made.

They may not have talked much about the war, their silence was often a mask hiding the atrocity of, in my family's case, World War II.

My children, who did not know their maternal grandparents, are a generation removed from the people who made the sacrifices that enables their present-day freedom.

So when we contemplate Anzac Day, we should also perhaps be contemplating how we ensure that the memories of war are passed on to our kids, so they never lose the appreciation of what their forebears fought for. And schools are doing a great job in this respect.

The truth is, war has never been a reality for most of us thanks mainly to those for whom it was.