Ghost army marches in city to centuryold beat

A GHOSTLY echo of Passchendaele reverberated through Dunedin’s streets on Saturday.

But, far from a horrific crescendo of machineguns and explosives, this army marched to a different beat.

A squad of 10 ‘‘ghost soldiers’’, played by actors and volunteers dressed in World War 1 uniforms, made its way slowly through the centre of Dunedin from noon.

The men marched from Knox Church to Queens Gardens, mixing with lunchtime shoppers along the way.

They paused only for traffic lights, to rest or to sing NZ Expeditionary Force songs.

Curious onlookers were handed small ‘‘bereavement cards’’ telling the story of one of many Otago soldiers to fall in just a few hours at Passchendaele, Belgium.

The WW1 battle, 100 years ago on October 12, 1917, claimed 843 New Zealand soldiers’ lives in a few hours, making it the bloodiest day in New Zealand military history.

The organiser of Dunedin’s ghost march, Lieutenantcolonel Amanda Jane Brosnan, said Dunedin’s liveaction tribute remembered those from Otago who fell during the battle.

A similar event was staged in Nelson on the event’s centenary and again over the weekend.

Ltcol Brosnan said she was inspired by a similar event held in the United Kingdom last year to mark the Battle of the Somme.

Watching the ghost soldiers move through the streets was ‘‘very moving and very profound’’.

‘‘It made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up,’’ she said.