The day honours those who've served overseas for Aotearoa in war or other roles like peacekeeping.
The plan, which was backed by then-first lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill, was flawed and the troops faced a heroic defence by the Turks, withdrawing eight months later. In the Gallipoli campaign, waves of Allied forces launched an amphibious attack on the strategically important Turkish peninsula, which was key to controlling the Dardanelles straits, the crucial route to the Black Sea and Russia. Members of the public are able to go along to dawn services but there won’t be any parades due to the pandemic.
He tao huata e taea te karo, He tao na Aitua, e kore.” “The thrust of a spear shaft may be parried; that of Death never” Ata atamarie e koutou I te atatu.
Those early Anzac Days during the First World War were an opportunity to extoll the virtues of national unity, imperial loyalty, and volunteering. The effects of the First World War and subsequent conflicts have been felt across generations. Their new reality is one of trauma, grief, and displacement. For more than a century, that brave but perilous advance into an unknown and hostile landscape has remained a powerful symbol of the horror and cost to us as a nation. Let us honour our brave service personnel, and all who have lost their lives in service to New Zealand. While there is much that we, as individuals, are powerless to change, as the light of a new day spreads over Pukeahu and Aotearoa, we can resolve to continue to be there for each other, and for all who are affected by war and conflict – past and present.