Soldiers camped out Armistice day commemorations. Made with funding from NZ On Air
A re-enactment battle at Lake Karapiro was held to commemorate one hundred years since the end of World War One.
And after a moment's silence - on the 11th hour on the 11th day of November, 100 years on - a roaring chorus of jubilation.
"The 11th hour ofthe 11th month is very significant," Cambridge Armistice Committee chairman, Paul Watkins said. "Because Armistice was signed then in 1918 when French and German came to an understanding all hostility should end."
"It wasn't so much a commemoration but a celebration, people all over the world, the four-and-a-half-year war had ended. That was celebrated at the time with what was called the roaring chorus and that was everybody making as much noise as possible, banging things together, tooting horns and making as much noise in as many ways as people could."
Today's commemorations follow a weekend of activities, with over a hundred military vehicles on display and soldiers camping out on site. Among them, Greg Thomas of Cambridge, who participated in full replica uniform.
"Yesterday we had Le Quesnoy battle, showing New Zealanders how the Kiwis liberated a town by climbing a wall freeing French and taking German prisoners," Thomas said.
"They may read it in a book which could bore them to tears, maybe they just wouldn't read it at all. But if they see it here, in action, maybe we'll have more people understanding and then celebrating NZ history more."
The event remembers not just what happened in the pages of the history books, but the spirit in which the war was fought. A vital way to keep those memories alive.
