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Anzac Day occurs on
the 25th April. It commemorates all New
Zealanders killed in war and also honours returned
servicemen and women.
The date itself marks the anniversary of the landing of New Zealand and
Australian soldiers – the Anzacs – on the Gallipoli Peninsula in 1915.
The aim was to capture the Dardanelles, the gateway to the Bosphorous
and the Black Sea. At the end of the campaign, Gallipoli was still held
by its Turkish defenders.
It
may have lead to a military defeat, but for many New Zealanders then and
since, the Gallipoli landings meant the beginning of something else – a
feeling that New Zealand had a role as a distinct nation, even as it
fought on the other side of the world in the name of the British Empire
Anzac Day was first marked in 1916. The day has gone through many
changes since then. The ceremonies that are held at war memorials up and
down New Zealand, or in places overseas where New Zealanders gather,
remain rich in tradition and ritual befitting a military funeral.
The spirit of ANZAC is an intangible thing. It is unseen, unpredictable.
An unquenchable thirst for justice, freedom and peace. This phrase is
synonymous with the Spirit of ANZAC which is frequently used to
describe, particular actions by, and qualities of people. However,
despite being intangible, the Spirit of ANZAC is a cornerstone which
underpins our New Zealand image, way of life and indeed is an integral
part of our heritage.
Modern Anzac Day
Rituals on Anzac Day follow the form developed many years
ago. There is still a dawn service; war veterans and serving personnel
continue to gather at memorials and in Returned Services' Association
clubrooms; politicians and local dignitaries still attend ceremonies.
Shops and hotels remain closed on Anzac Day morning. Now, people remark
on the number of young New Zealanders in the crowds. Some wear the
medals their grandparents and great-grandparents won during war. There
are now no veterans left from Gallipoli or the First World War. Bright
Williams, who passed away in 2003, was the last, and the number of
Second World War veterans becomes fewer each year. Incidently Bright
Williams was an Uncle of the late Ken Williams a member of this RSA.
Anzac Day enjoys unusual reverance in a country where
emotional public rituals are otherwise absent. The day still has a
traditional commemorative function, but for more people it is also
becoming an opportunity to talk about what it may mean to be a New
Zealander.
Poppy Day
On 22nd April 1915 New Zealand, Australian and
other Empire troops were making final preparations to land at Anzac Cove
at Gallipoli. At the same time in Europe the German Army launched its
first infamous poison gas attack of the Great War battle that was to
become known as the Second Ypres. The first Canadian Brigade, supported
by French colonial troops, had been thrust into theYpres Salient in an
attempt to stem the German attack and at 5pm on that fateful day, were
enveloped in rolling yellowish-green clouds of choking chlorine gas.
Taken completely by surprise, many men died where they stood, but
somehow those who were able to survive the highly poisonous vapour were
able to hold the line and prevent the enemy from pouring through the
gap.
In an exposed dugout on the west bank of the Yser Canal,
just north of the burning Belgium city of Ypres, Canadian medical
officer Major John McRae cared for an unceasing flow of his wounded
countrymen, many of whom literally rolled down the embankment into the
dressing station.
Major McRae, a trained artillery officer who has seen
action in the Boer War in South Africa, spent endless hours ministering
to the wounded and at times was also required to relieve the battery
commander in directing fire from the Brigades sixteen 18 pounder guns –
a task he appeared to accept as normal, for he was a gunner at heart.
It was in this setting of bloodshed and suffering in the
war-devastated countryside of Flanders that Major McRae watched with
dismay, the growing forest of crosses expanding into a cemetery dotted
with wild red poppies as troops buried their dead whenever battle
permitted.
On Monday May the 3rd, during a short respite
in the arrival of wounded at the first aid post, the tragic scene
inspired him to write the soul stirring lines that have immortalised the
red poppy of Flanders as the international symbol of rememberance for
the fallen in battle.
The poem titled In Flanders Fields, written in pencil on
a page torn from a dispatch book, was first published anonymously in
Punch on December the 8th 1915. Though it was some time
before the origin of the lines became known, it immediately touched the
hearts of civilians in all allied countries. It was printed in the
newspapers throughout the English speaking world and has been recited at
memorial services ever since.
John McRae never returned home. He suffered pneumonia aggravated by the
chronic effects of the chlorine gas he had inhaled earlier an Ypres. He
died on January 28 1918 and now lies in the Commonwealth War Graves plot
on the French Channel coast in sight of the white cliffs of Dover.
His poem literally born of fire and blood was the inspiration that moved
a compassionate American women, Moina Michael to vow that she would
always wear a poppy. She later met up with a French woman Madame Guerin,
a French YMCA secretary who was also fascinated by McRaes lines and that
meeting gave birth to the idea of selling artificial poppies to help
ex-servicemen and their dependants suffering hardship. The selling of
poppies on the Friday prior to Anzac Day remains with us today and in
other Commonwealth countries.
The first Poppy Day in New Zealand was held in 1922 and has been an
annual event since then. It is usually held on the Friday before ANZAC
Day. It is the most important fundraising appeal of the year for RSA,
providing funds for the assistance of returned and service men and women
and their dependants in need. On Poppy Day RSA volunteers throughout New
Zealand offer red poppy buttonholes in exchange for donations for the
RSA Welfare Fund.
The Annual Poppy Day appeal embodies the core values of the RSA –
remembrance and welfare. The significance of the poppy and the
remarkable story of how the Poppy became an international symbol
remembrance for fallen servicemen and women as described previously, is
the hallmark of the RSA family movement throughout New Zealand.
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