Armistice Day commemorations will be revived in Wairarapa on November 11 after several years in limbo.
Tweet Bird, Vietnam veteran and Masterton Returned and Services Association committee member, said the committee was reviving the commemoration service for the region to after a break of "six or seven years" to coincide with
the Year of the Veteran this year.
"It will be the first time Armistice Day has been commemorated in Masterton for six or seven years and being the Year of the Veteran, it is very timely to revive the service this year."
Mr Bird said there are now about 340 returned service personnel in the region, which includes about 30 fellow Vietnam veterans.
He said the event is open to the public and commemorations begin at 10.45am on the day with a falling in of service personnel at the band rotunda in Queen Elizabeth Park under parade marshall Bob 'Bukit' Hill, Vietnam veteran and former R.S.M.
A prayer service will then be held before the War Memorial Cenotaph in the park led by the Rev. Ted Dashfield and Archdeacon Sally Tehana, Mr Bird said.
After the marking of respects at the Cenotaph, those gathered will return to the War Memorial Stadium at the Recreation Centre where badges will be presented to service personnel and an address made by guest speaker Colonel Al McCone, assistant chief of general staff human resources.
The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month marks the moment when hostilities ceased on the Western Front in 1918, with the signing of the Armistice.
Armistice Day marks the anniversary of the armistice that ended the World War 1 and commemorates the sacrifice of those who died serving New Zealand in that and all wars and armed conflicts.
Wreath-laying ceremonies mark Armistice Day at the National War Memorial in Wellington and at many war memorials throughout New Zealand.
As part of these ceremonies, a silence of two minutes is observed at 11am on November 11 in memory of those New Zealanders who died while serving their country.
