Anzac Day – a wider perspective
In New Zealand, the word Anzac (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) calls to mind Australian-New Zealand comradeship, and in both countries 25 April is the main day on which we remember the people who have died in war.
That day is the anniversary of the landing of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps at Gallipoli in 1915. Although the Gallipoli campaign was a serious failure for the Anzac troops and had little impact on the war’s outcome, the campaign fostered an emerging New Zealand identity. It was an important stage in the process of New Zealand beginning to think of itself as a nation in its own right. New Zealanders also started to get a reputation for being brave, resourceful and resilient.
The observance of Anzac Day as a national day of remembrance began with the first anniversary of the landing in 1916. Since that time, Anzac Day remembrance services have been expanded to include all those who died in subsequent wars.
Commemorative services begin before dawn with a march by returned and service personnel to local war memorials, where other members of the community join them for a wreath-laying service. War memorials are permanent symbols of remembrance, service and sacrifice. Services continue later in the morning. Anzac Day is a national holiday, no matter which day of the week it falls on.
Anzac Day ceremonies also take place in Gallipoli. They involve leaders and representatives of the armed forces from New Zealand, Australia and Turkey (the opposing force at Gallipoli).
New Zealand Defence Force personnel will be heavily involved in Anzac Day activities, including dawn and civic ceremonies around the country. A wreath-laying ceremony at the National War Memorial in Wellington always draws a large crowd.
Hundreds of New Zealand Defence personnel will be serving overseas on Anzac Day. Wherever they are, special commemorations on ANZAC Day are a major focus for everyone in the armed forces.
Poppies have been associated with Anzac Day since the 1920s. People wear a red poppy as a mark of remembrance for the men and women who have died in the course of service for their country. The money donated by people who buy the poppies is given to the welfare arm of the New Zealand Returned and Services Association (RSA) and used to provide for returned service personnel and their families. Poppies made of light cloth or paper are also woven together to form wreaths, which are laid at war memorials nationwide.
The poppies are a symbol of the sacrifice—the blood lost—in war. The connection between red poppies and fallen service personnel has its origins in the Napoleonic Wars of the early nineteenth century; red or Flanders poppies were the first flowers to bloom over the graves of soldiers in northern France and Belgium. It was in the same region a century later that red poppies were once more associated with those who died in war. Canadian medical officer John McCrae wrote the famous lines:
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row.
After the First World War, the red poppy gradually became a symbol of remembrance.
At every Anzac Day service an ode is recited. It is the fourth stanza of the poem For the Fallen by English poet Laurence Binyon. The poet says that the people who were killed in war died on our behalf and, since they were killed while they were still young, they will not have to suffer the indignities of growing old. He also says that their sacrifice will never be forgotten.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
Takaka’s Bob Papps is a World War II veteran. He has been a member of the RSA for about 60 years and he will be at this year’s Anzac service as he always is. He said,” Those of us who fought in the last world war are getting pretty old now and that makes it really important to take some time once a year, with other people in our community, to remember the men and women who went away to war and didn’t come back. Their sacrifices made it possible for us to have the kind of nation we have now. It’s really great that younger people in our community join with those of us who are left, to commemorate this supremely important day in our country’s life.
Neil Wilson
