As part of programmed visits and a range of events, the young people joined a pilgrimage around Wellington's military sites and ended the day with Mass.

The pilgrimage was sponsored and organised by Challenge 2000, a youth development agency.

Firstly for youth and pilgrimage directors, the pilgrimage to remember them meant getting up very early to attend the traditional Dawn Service at the Cenotaph.

Later in the morning the pilgrimage weaved its way to the 11am service at Pukeahu; the national memorial, while interspersed throughout the day were visits to the Chunuk Bair stone at St Paul's Cathedral, the Ataturk Memorial, the gun emplacements around the entrance to Wellington harbour, and the Te Papa Anzac Exhibition.

The pilgrimage concluded with a Mass for Peace.

It was a very full day.

"Touching that stone from Chunuk Bair at St Paul's Cathedral made me feel part of me was there and now I can tell my mokopuna about Gallipoli and that many of our people rest there," commented Mihi Hough, 18, on what made a significant impact on him.

The day was not just for young people and, reflecting on her experience of the Mass, parishioner Margaret Dunne, said "the young people bring us the hope of peace."

Dunne, like many in New Zealand, personally knows the grief of war.

Describing it as a happy-sad event, she said her great uncle was buried at Passchendaele and, fortunately, her father returned.

In the course of the liturgy, Dunne says she was particularly taken by the use of ‘Kohima's epitaph:' "When you go home, speak to them of us and say for your tomorrow we gave our today."

The epitaph was composed by Cambridge classicist turned wartime codebreaker, John Edmonds, at the end of the First World War.

Petonio Foaese is honoured to lay a wreath at the ANZAC Day memorial service.

Kitty McKinley, Founder and Project Manager of Challenge 2000, says that she is proud of the way that young people, past and present, are prepared to learn about and understand what the ANZAC spirit is and try in their many fields of endeavour to live the values of service, sacrifice, love, justice and peace.

McKinley said that her father, who served in WWII in Egypt and Italy, never spoke of the war.

"What he did though was pass on his desire for a better world, his dislike of war and violence and his emphasis on each person doing their bit for a peace-filled and fair country and world," she said.

"We will remember them by the way we live our lives today," reflects McKinley.

As a Youth Development Agency, Challenge 2000 encourages young people to understand the past and to contribute to a better Aotearoa and world by adopting and living the values of service, sacrifice, love, justice and peace.

The Returned and Services Association (RSA) branch at Titahi Bay near Wellington has moved the Muslim prayer from its 6 am dawn service to its 10 am civic ceremony after some veterans said the dawn service should remember only NZ and Australian soldiers who have died in wars. Continue reading

The technicolour performance marked the last year of World War I and events in New Zealand to remember our nation's involvement. Continue reading

A group of volunteers, including the descendants of the veterans, have spruced up their grave sites by concreting and painting them.

They also repaired the headstones, as part of the Nikao Cemetery Restoration Project.

Gloria Walker was one of 65 Australian cancer patients buried at the Nikao cemetery on the Cook Islands' largest island, Rarotonga, after seeking treatment from Milan Brych.

When her daughter Cate was in the Cook Islands tending to her mother's grave, her husband Paul Morrisey found an Anzac headstone which had washed onto the beach.

"There was so much damage in the cemetery. There were headstones down on the shoreline and it was just a terrible mess," Walker said.

"It was completely overgrown, it was just full of coconut trees, vines, I didn't even know there were graves there.

"It was a complete jungle.

"I thought 'that's it, I'm doing something about this now.'"

Walker used social media to assemble a team of volunteers to restore headstones, and concrete and paint the grave sites.

She said that, during the years of neglect, at least 10 graves had been washed away in the tourist and cancer patient area.

Some of the ANZAC graves had also disappeared, and Walker went through the archives to establish how many soldiers had been buried on the site.

More than 300 Cook Islanders served with the Maori contingent in Europe and the Mediterranean during the Great War.

It is thought that this graveyard contains the largest group of Cook Islands veterans buried anywhere in the world.

Source

• abc.net.au
• radionz.co.nz
• cookislandsnews.com
• Image: Cate Walker

They were Quakers, members of the Religious Society of Friends, who strive to "bring about God's will without the use of force or violence."

Quakers refuse to take part in war and preparation for war; and oppose the culture of militarism.

"I was glad to be among this dignified gathering," says Rachel Rose in her opinion piece in the Wanganui Chronicle.

"As I looked at the backs of their white or grey heads, I reflected how these gentle and determined women had doubtless been advocating for peace and social justice for longer than I've been alive."

The Quaker's protest did not get the same media coverage as the one staged in Wellington by Ellie Clayton and Laura Drew from Peace Action Wellington.

They were confronted by 12-year-old Jason Broome-Isa who told them it was appropriate to protest on ANZAC day.

A poll on The AM Show showed two thirds of those who responded (67 percent) agreed with Jason, and believe protesting on Anzac Day is inappropriate.

But Rose says she was saddened to read some rather strident denunciation of the Quakers who had made white poppies available and organised the peace vigil.

"The organisers took great care to not set up their activities in opposition to anyone. Their freedom to express their heartfelt beliefs should be respected."

Only one media organisation pointed out that an extract read out at the the National Commemoration Service by the prime minister Bill English was written Ormond Edward Burton.

Burton was a christian pacifist who was jailed for his beliefs.

The day after the Second World War was declared, Burton condemned it before a crowd outside Parliament.

In her piece Rose acknowledged the gratitude she has for the help the Wanganui Quakers showed her when she was in a time of need.

Source

• nzherald.co.nz/wanganui-chronicle
• newshub.co.nz
• facebook.com/rachelrose.writer
• Image: nzherald.co.nz/wanganui-chronicle

During a very moving service, members of the student council placed 30 white crosses on the embankment below the Chapel.

Each school and kura in New Zealand (including independent and integrated schools) has been given 30 white crosses.

Each cross is named to include local men, nurses, New Zealand Victoria Cross recipients, the youngest New Zealander who died (aged 17), an All Black captain, and one with the words "Known Unto God" to represent the unknown soldier.

St Peter's College acting deputy principal Bridget Ryan said pupils had been researching the soldiers on the crosses the school had been given.

Corporal Aaron Horrell who has served in Afghanistan spoke to the students about his own 'tours of duty' and the reality of war as it affected him.

Former pupil Jackie Bristow's song Fallen Youth was played on the big screen and a video of fallen soldiers from the Gore area, to the tune of Amazing Grace, was also played.

Ryan said the school held its service on the Tuesday before ANZAC Day so that Horrell could speak to the pupils, not just about Gallipoli but his own experiences serving for the armed forces.

It was a very poignant service," she said.

"Having him speak brings it all home - it makes it real."

Source

• Stuff.co.nz
• Facebook
• education.govt.nz
• Image: Facebook

McKinley is the founder of Challenge 2000, a youth development organisation based in Johnsonville, Wellington.

On ANZAC weekend Challenge staff, volunteers, gap students and locals produced moving performances that recognised and remembered those who gave their lives and fought for their country.

To commemorate this year's centenary of the battle at Gallipoli the group re-enacted the bravery, courage and heroism of soldiers, nurses, Maori and Pakeha men and women.

"We've performed dramas in our local area before but this year more parishes were involved," said McKinley.

There were so many young people who wanted to take part this year they presented their drama at Johnsonville, Masterton, Eastbourne, Newtown and the Cathedral.

"Some young people attended all 5 Masses," McKinley said.

"Our vocation, service and sacrifice-themed production moved young and old."

"It was also wonderful to be joined by military people currently serving."

In Auckland to mark ANZAC day there was a memorial concert in St Benedict's Church in Newton.

It featured well-known composer/singer and Catholic priest, Father Chris Skinner, as well as musicians from three Auckland Catholic schools, St Mary's and St Peter's Colleges and St Francis School.

Source

• Catholic Diocese of Auckland

Now, in an annual event that grows in mythology and status in proportion to the passing of the years, is celebrated the shared combat ordeal of gallant "Johnny Turk" and the Bronzed Anzac.

And why not?

The Turkish forces, well prepared behind excellent defences, used their tactics to good effect, ably led by a professional officer who was to go on to bigger things, such as the fire destruction of Smyrna - namely, Kemal Ataturk.

But, pause for one moment to consider a slightly different scenario.

Let us suspend historical reality for the purposes of this exercise.

What if, say, instead of Gallipoli, the Anzac forces were going into combat with an SS Battalion somewhere in Poland during the Second World War?

Would we then, decades later, be joining up with our comrades in battle to celebrate what both sides had gone through, our enmities forgotten?

Can one commemorate the shared experiences with enemy forces who acted as the military arm of a state carrying out a terrible genocide at the same time?

For it was the night before the landing at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915 in the capital of the Ottoman Empire, then called Constantinople, when occurred the arrest, detention and subsequent liquidation of 625 intellectuals, priests and leading figures of the Armenian Empire.

This event is widely held to signal the onset of the first major genocide of the twentieth century, the most blood-drenched period in human history.

What followed was a mass murder of an entirely innocent group of citizens in the Ottoman Empire by means that are still horrifying to contemplate.

By the time Turkey sued for peace in 1918, up to 1.5 million Armenians had been slaughtered, decimating the population of a group of people who had lived in the Fertile Crescent since the dawn of human settlement. Continue reading

Sources

• ABC Religion & Ethics
• Image: The Guardian

No war is "good" or "just" or "necessary" from the standpoint of the aggressor, though those assaulted may have excuse to apply such tags in defending themselves.

Unfortunately since the mass of humanity seems inclined to take up arms on the flimsiest pretext, the warlords and demigods of hatred find war all too easy to pursue. Continue reading

Fr Mullins will join 2,000 other New Zealanders commemorating 100 years since the ANZAC landing on the peninsula in Turkey, where more than 8,500 and 2,721 New Zealand soldiers lost their lives.

For Fr Mullins it is a way to connect with his late father Jack, who volunteered in the Canterbury Regiment the day World War I broke out.

"The main thing is to be on the land at Gallipoli. To feel where my father was", Fr Mullins told Stuff reporter Ciara Pratt.

"I've never had the chance until now to go, so I put in the application and decided to hedge my bets.

"It's a bit like Lotto", the retired priest said.

Working as a missionary for many years in Tonga and completing many mission trips, Fr Mullins is used to travel, however at 83 he says travelling is not as easy as it used to be.

"I'm willing to put up with a few difficulties because the New Zealand soldiers put with up with so many difficulties and problems, and sacrificed a lot", he said.

Mr Jack Mullins, a budding journalist at Christchurch Press, saw three years service. An injury early into the ANZAC battle saw him transported to hospital in Alexandria.

After suffering several more injuries he returned to New Zealand in 1917 and resumed his journalism career.

While in Gallipoli, Mr Mullins wrote about his war experiences and sent the reports back to his former employer.

"He never spoke critically of the war and he was proud of the fact he was at Gallipoli", said Fr Mullins.

"In one of his writing he spoke about the captain's sermon on the ship being commendably short, something I've tried to put in practice myself", Fr Mullins said.

Sources

• Society of Mary
• Stuff

I think about the soldiers who went away as members of the British Empire and who came back as New Zealanders. I think about my Grandfather who served in Italy. I think about my shipmates I served with in the Navy and I think about the people I know who are still serving. But since a visit to Gallipoli a few years ago, I also think about the Turks.

It was not until I climbed through the hills of Anzac Cove, surrounded by fellow Kiwis and Aussies, making a pilgrimage to one of our most holy sites, that I realised its about more than the sacrifice our ancestors made.

It's also about the foundation of another great country and their amazing display of grace to us.

In 1934, Ataturk, one of the Turkish army officers in Gallipoli, who later become the first leader of Modern Turkey, wrote an open letter to the mothers of the dead soldiers.

"Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives; You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace.

"There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours.

"You, the mothers, who sent their sons from far away countries, wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace.

"After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well."

I also think about how we would react if other countries invaded New Zealand, killed thousands of our soldiers and every year since, they wanted to commemorate the battle on our shores.

Because in essence, that's what we did in Turkey. Yet, somehow, they not only respect our traditions, but they also actively participate in them, standing along side us as we remember.

Lest we forget.

Sources

• Dave Mollard in Stuff
• What does Anzac Day mean to you?
• Image: RSA

10 bills have been put up by National members and one by Labour.

The present bill was sponsored by National MP for Waitaki Jacqui Dean and proposed allowing shops to open over Easter in Waitaki and Wanaka. It was voted down by 49 votes to 70 on Wednesday evening.

Dean says she will continue the fight to allow businesses in the electorate to trade at Easter, despite her latest attempt being defeated.

Votes on Easter are made by conscience vote.

Labour's industrial relations spokeswoman Darien Fenton said that central to the issue was workers' right to enjoy time off with family, which was only guaranteed three-and-a-half days a year: Easter Friday and Sunday, Christmas Day and half of Anzac Day.

She said ,"There isn't any way you can stop workers being forced to work." It was "just crazy" that National kept trying to push the issue. "Give it up."

Fenton acknowledged the law around Easter trading was "very messy" because it allowed some gardening centres to open and shops got fined every year for breaking the law.

First Union retail secretary Maxine Gay said New Zealand didn't need Easter trading.

"New Zealanders can shop on 361-and-a-half days a year, and on 51 of 52 Sundays of the year, and most shop workers could be required to work on any of these days."

Source

• Stuff.co.nz
• The Southland Times
• Image: Caritas.org.nz

A cross was fixed to his grave, but remained without a headstone.

But someone remembered him, and Elizabeth Lawn, a carer at Mr Kearn's former rest home, made it a routine to stop by with flowers for his grave every Anzac Day.

Mr Kearns, born Francis Thomas Kearns, died in October 2004, and Ms Lawn had visited every year since.

In time, the cross disappeared, and now the grave site is unmarked.

Ms Lawn is sometimes joined by her friend, rest home manager Barbara Moore, on Anzac Day. Together the women sought action on the headstone.

"He was one of those guys who touched my heart, I suppose," Ms Lawn said. "Every year I think `poor Frankie'. This year I thought, we really need to do something."

The women approached the RSA to discuss the possibility of a headstone and the wheels were quickly set in motion.

Continue Reading

They were pleasantly surprised when our group joined them. Mostly young, they were on their way to Gallipoli, with many New Zealanders.

Officials estimated about 7000 attended the combined Dawn Service at Anzac Cove.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard gave two excellent speeches. At Lone Pine she rose to the occasion splendidly and captured the significance of the Anzacs for our history and our evolving self-understanding.

No Australian at Gallipoli was a conscript; all were free men from a free country.

She explained that the boys of federation became the men of Gallipoli, starting a new story for a new nation.

Despite their defeat, we still take pride in their bravery (seven Victoria Crosses were won at Lone Pine) as we struggle to come to grips with the misery and slaughter.

No country in World War I had a higher casualty rate than Australia except New Zealand.

Most Australians know how 75,000 British Empire and French troops invaded Turkey on April 25, 1915, secured and held two bridgeheads against ferocious Turkish resistance, suffered from heat and then cold, from disease and discomfort, from disappointment at the lack of progress, from the stench of the dying and the nuisance of fat, green "corpse flies" before they withdrew eight months later.

Some other facts are not so well known.

For more than 2000 years, Turkey has been a principal gateway for invading armies between Europe and Asia.

Despite this, their respect for the Allied war graves, their welcome and participation in our memorial services are remarkable gestures.

Some 8700 Australians died on Gallipoli, but 22,000 British soldiers were also killed and there were 250,000 Turkish casualties; 2721 New Zealanders died from a population of 1 million.

Like most Australians, Catholics opposed conscription but supported the Allied war aims.

Many Catholics fought and died and common suffering drew the Protestant and Catholic communities closer.

Ancient wrongs and mutual antagonisms were seen in a new light and Christian forgiveness encouraged greater tolerance.

Only a nation with deep Christian roots and belief in redemptive sacrifice could set this Anzac failure at the heart of its legends.

Sources

• The Telegraph
• Image: Zimbio

Cardinal George Pell is Catholic Archbishop of Sydney

Anzac Day is one of those mysterious days. We know the meaning, only what is the meaning precisely? I relate more readily to certain family birthdays and to Easter; more readily to All Souls' Day with its call to remember the departed, surely one of the things that makes us more human, than to Anzac Day. The day is a memorial for the dead, especially now that none of the original men at Gallipoli are alive to tell the story, but what else is it?

My paternal grandfather, Edgar Harvey, was not only an Anzac but among those who landed nearly 100 years ago at the Turkish cove, later named Anzac, on 25 April 1915. Yet the family almost never talked about this, or subsequent events in his wartime experience. It was passed over in silence. It still is, largely.

In a country where Gallipoli is treated as a moment of great national importance, it might be expected that I would feel proud to have a grandfather who fought there and survived. While that is the case, it was never instilled in me to feel that way.

My father rarely if ever talked about his father Edgar's wartime experience. Silences in childhood may come to say that there must be secrets, or there are feelings too hard to express. Just being alive, I came to learn, is what is important, not being proud about knowing someone who was there.

One thing my father, an Anglican, did repeat while I was growing up in the 1960s was Daniel Mannix's claim that the Great War was nothing but a trade war. The vehemence with which he repeated this assertion told me it stung, he was hurt by the truth of it. Continue reading

Sources

• Philip Harvey in Eureka Street
• Image: The Guardian

But a small group is trying to put the battle back on the map. The Passchendaele Society has high-flying supporters, including Robyn Malcolm and Professor Glyn Harper. It's headed by Iain MacKenzie, a former honorary consul to Belgium who cuts a dapper figure in a kilt.

Most Passchendaele commemorations, including films and a ceremony with the Navy band, are being held in Auckland, but the society wants an official national day of remembrance.

New Zealand remembers its fallen and celebrates our nation's birth on Anzac Day. Anzac Day commemorations began in 1916, with a public holiday from 1921, but old-timers recalled that Armistice Day - November 11, commemorating the 1918 Armistice - used to be a bigger day than it is today.

Today, Armistice Day is barely on our memorial calendar. Anzac Day has sidelined it, the dawn ceremony having been imported from Australia in 1939.

Anzac Day fell away during the 1970s. The war generation and the protest generation saw the world differently, but today Anzac Day is effectively New Zealand's national day. Bigger crowds than ever attend ceremonies nationwide.

One reason for the focus on Anzac Day was that Gallipoli was the first big shock for both Australians and New Zealanders. Bearing in mind the size of the loss, 2700 dead or one in four of New Zealand's Force, New Zealanders and Australians have always wanted their own special day.

Britain has at least two memorial days. Every Battle of Britain Day, Spitfires zoom across London's skies, but Armistice Day is still Britain's poppy day.

In the United States, Memorial Day recalls the American Civil War, Americans remember the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor as "the day of infamy" and September 11 is seared on the American psyche. Germany also has two days from World War I. Continue reading

Sources

• Lawrence Watt in Stuff
• Image: The Belgians Have Not Forgotten