As Whanganui RSA Welfare Officer, Mac McCallion is on hand to offer veterans advice, and to visit them at home or in hospital. Photo / Bevan Conley
The Anzac Day dawn service and parade will return to Whanganui this weekend, uniting thousands in commemoration of those who have served in the New Zealand armed forces throughout our history.
One of them will be veteran Mac McCallion, who spoke to Mike Tweed.
Mac McCallion joined the New Zealand Army as a 17-year-old and went on to serve in Malaya, Borneo, Vietnam, and Singapore.
He says his career in the armed forces had treated him "very well".
"My last appointment was here, as the Regimental Sarjeant Major of the local 5 Battalion," McCallion says.
"Some people say I haven't left the army yet, but I've enjoyed my career and I still do.
"I've been able to get out there and help a lot of people."
McCallion now serves as Welfare Officer for the Whanganui RSA, an organisation he says has experienced dwindling membership numbers in recent years.
"There were a lot of Vietnam vets here in New Zealand, and we used to have reunions every couple of years. We really got together to reunite with our people and see our families grow up.
"The years have gone by, and those years have taken their toll on a lot of our members."
McCallion says it is an "uphill battle" to get younger returned services personnel to be involved in an organisation like the RSA and it is slipping further and further down people's lists.
"I was termed a veteran when I was 20-21, and it was a bit hard to take. I think that reflects on the younger generation as well.
"With a bit of education, and a bit of encouragement, they'll come around sooner or later.
"I ain't going to be here forever, and we need someone to step up."
Despite those falling numbers, McCallion says in recent years he has noticed a greater interest from younger generations in their forebears' experiences and achievements overseas.
"They are our more inquisitive, and ask 'Pop, where did you get those medals from?
"My brother died recently, and I sent his medals over to his son in Australia. They have now gone to my brother's granddaughter, who will be wearing them this Anzac Day," McCallion says
"It's good to see that type of thing coming along. Once upon a time, I never thought about my grandfather's medals. That was taboo. They belonged to him, and him alone.
"Our attitudes have changed since then, and they needed to change, to represent the culture of our country."
New Zealand had always punched "well above its weight" militarily, McCallion says.
"Anzac Day is a good day for our people to come together peacefully and remember the past, and our contributions to the country and the rest of the world.
"That's something a lot of people don't really realise, but we'll get there. We'll get the information out there, we'll let them know what we've done in the past, keep it, and pass it on."
McCallion says, despite their advancing age, older veterans will always make the effort to attend the annual dawn service.
"People still want to march," he says.
"Whether it's on Zimmer Frames or in wheelchairs, they still want to come out and be a part of it.
"That makes me very proud."
The Whanganui RSA still houses more than 500 crosses of local Anzac soldiers who served in WWI and WWII and McCallion wants their families to take them home with them.
About 30 have been collected so far.
"What we've identified is that a lot of these people have moved away from Whanganui," he says.
"The gap is getting so wide and so long that they don't seem to matter anymore. For any number of reason, the crosses are still here.
"We'd like people to take them."
At present, McCallion says his role as welfare officer involves issues surrounding local veterans' health, and coordinating with other organisations to make sure people could access the help they needed.
"It's an advisory function, to send people in the right direction. Generally speaking, I think the advice people are getting is sufficient to get them by.
"I also deal with funerals, and generally I conduct the funeral if it's an army one.
"Something like Anzac Day need to be a big community effort though, and we need the community to be involved for it to work. It's certainly not a one-person job, it would drive you nuts."
McCallion says New Zealand's contributions to major military conflicts such as WWI and WWII always needed to be remembered, but Kiwis had continued to serve overseas in the 46 years since the end of the Vietnam War.
This is something that hadn't received the same level of attention, he says.
"That's primarily because they don't get the same amount of publicity that we used to get.
"We went away in great numbers, and there's a lot more influence there. People were more aware of it. When you get individuals or little groups going away, that impact is not as great.
"That's why the knowledge has to come from the people themselves, they need to tell their stories and share their experiences.
"A lot of people are still talking about the past, and that's fine, but we should also remember our contributions up until the present day."
McCallion himself only has a "vague idea" of what these people have done, purely because he hasn't been involved himself.
"I can talk go to schools and talk about Vietnam, but I can't talk about Bosnia, Timor-Leste, or Afghanistan because I've never been there, I wasn't on the ground.
"What's important is engaging with society, and a lot of our people don't do that. They've gone away, done their thing, and that's that.
"I don't think it should end there though. One thing I'd like to do is get some of our post-Vietnam people to come with me around local schools, the same way I did in the past.
"That's one way to educate our younger generations."
Despite the changing times, Anzac Day always brings returned services personnel "out in droves", McCallion says.
"There are people I haven't seen for years, and I always find myself saying 'bloody hell, where did you come from?'. It's really good to see them, but it's a bit of a 'oncer'.
"People are just so busy these days, and there are a lot more things to do.
"We didn't have all these news platforms for instance, and all these other things that people have now, so we had to make do.
"We formed social groups and away we went. We got on with it."
• The Anzac Day dawn service will be held at the War Memorial Centre on Sunday. The parade begins at 5.10 at the Davis Library, with the service to follow at 5.30 am.
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