Thousands attend dawn service
Whanganui High School head students Jack Southee and Jackie Hazelhurst spoke of a generation which is growing up in different times at the Dawn Service.
PHOTOS: Bevan Conley.
New Zealand's "blackest day" was recalled at Whanganui's dawn service this morning.
A low fog sat over the city as thousands made their way to the War Memorial Centre forecourt just after 5am before the parade wound down Queen's Park and along Watt St to join the crowd.
Reverend Rosemary Anderson said Anzac Day in recent years had covered various parts of WWI as their 100-year anniversaries arrived.
But this year would mark a century since "the blackest day in our military history".
An assault launched by New Zealand forces at Passchendaele on October 12, 1917 resulted in "a catastrophic massacre".
"Machine gun fire and barbed wire tore bodies to pieces," Mrs Anderson said.
"Men and horses literally drowned in the mud and mire of the shell craters while the wounded lay suffering for days on end.
It was an impossible, suicidal attack."
She said it was an event often overshadowed by Gallipoli but ranked as "the very worst on New Zealand's path toward nationhood".
"It is not enough for us to just look out on our anxious and troubled world from the peace and freedom we enjoy here.
"We must remember that the road to peace is paved, not with acts of violence but with faithful, determined and honourable service to keep our nation and the world free."
But it was also time for taking stock of the present.
Whanganui High School head students Jack Southee and Jackie Hazelhurst spoke of a generation which is growing up in different times.
"One hundred years ago someone like me would be taught that it is sweet and right to die for your country," Jack said.
"Such a change in the lives we live and yet this is often taken for granted.
"Waking up at 5am to the sound of a cranky parent or a tedious alarm is incomparable to those who woke up to gunfire and artillery but who do not wake up today."
Jackie said Anzac Day was also about remembering New Zealanders serving today who carried the values of those before them.
"Their bravery lives on and their legacy is felt as we remember them."
People were invited into the War Memorial Centre for rum and coffee following the service.
Among them was Bevan Tasker who was with the RNZAF during WWII but never had to see action.
"I got drafted overseas and I went home on leave that weekend and when I got back to camp I had all my artillery and everything to go and I got call in and told 'no need to go, it's going to finish'.
Mr Tasker was heartened to see more numbers since the dawn service moved to the forecourt and the amount of young people among the crowd.
"They're learning what it's all about," he said. "You're getting more here now."
By Zaryd Wilson
Wanganui Chronicle 26/4/17
