Our darkest day
Passchendaele remembered
Wiping away tears, Bob Scott knelt next to the final resting place of a fallen New Zealand soldier and placed a poppy on the edge of his headstone.
The scene was one of the many immaculately kept cemeteries dotted around the lush countryside surrounding Ypres, Belgium, just three days out from the 90th anniversary of the third battle of Passchendaele.
That battle was the scene of the most bloodshed in New Zealand military history in a single day; with almost 3000 Kiwi soldiers — still remembered by locals as “heroes from the ends of the earth” — either being killed, wounded or listed as missing in action.
It was day two of a trip Scott and his great mate and former All Black teammate Sir Fred Allen, along with legendary photographer Peter Bush, and then RSA president John Campbell had taken to Ypres to pay their respects to the fallen.
Among the Kiwis to die in the muddy hell that was the Western Front was a young man who had family living in Whangamata — Scott’s home town at the time.
Scott was completing a request from one of the fallen soldier’s relatives to lay a poppy he had been given before leaving New Zealand — a heartfelt gesture from 18,319km away to let the victim of one of the harshest battlefields our troops had served on know he was not forgotten.
“It is just one thing I could do to help some lovely people,” Scott said.
“As a former serviceman, you realise but for chance, that being buried somewhere like this could have been your own fate.”
Scott and Allen — who played, captained and later coached the All Blacks — had both intended to make the trip to the battlefields — including Passchendaele — and then return to Paris in time to watch the weekend’s Rugby World Cup semifinals, where they hoped to watch the All Blacks. But those hopes were dashed when the Richie McCaw-captained side lost 20-18 to France in their quarter-final.
We had met at the airport shortly after 6am the previous day, and the pair were as colourful as ever. Allen wasted no time in laying down the law once we were in a mini-van heading to Belgium.
Yes, he was gutted that the All Blacks had been punted out of the World Cup. But he had no interest in publicly commenting — he said the last thing that McCaw’s men wanted to hear were comments from an “old bastard” bagging them.
Allen, and Scott, were wary of taking anything away from their focus over the next four days — honouring those who made the greatest sacrifice.
But they wanted New Zealand to know about the huge sacrifice paid by our service men and medical corps on the Western Front.
As All Black rugby fans sank into sporting depression, Allen put the onfield loss into context, saying: “I’ve heard people back home saying the All Blacks’ loss to France is a tragedy. But what we will see around Ypres is the true meaning of tragedy.”
Battlefields and military cemeteries were nothing new to the New Zealand rugby giants. They had both served during World War II and stayed on in Europe as stars of the 2nd NZEF “Kiwis” rugby team that travelled through Europe.
Looking at the multiple reminders of the human carnage in and around Ypres — including battlefields where five All Blacks died, including the legendary David Gallaher — both spoke of how lucky they were to escape World War II unscathed.
“Before you go [to war], you don’t think about whether you are going to get hurt or killed,” Allen said. “But reality kicks in once you are on or near the front line. And what these boys had to put up with in the mud on the Western Front is just not worth thinking about.
“If people, world leaders came to a place like this, realised the carnage [their decisions] can cause, I would hope there would be no more wars.”
The Huts Cemetery, WestVlaanderen, was also on the itinerary.
Among the New Zealanders buried at the cemetery is Victor Spencer — one of five New Zealand soldiers executed during World War I for mutiny and desertion, later pardoned by Parliament in 2000.
The Southlander had survived the failed Gallipoli campaign, before being sent off with his mates to the muddy hell that awaited in Belgium.
Despite suffering chronic shellshock, his superiors refused to give him a respite from the front line.
Spencer’s fate touched Scott. His own father was seriously wounded and almost lost his life on his first day at Gallipoli, after being shot.
“Look at the countryside now”, Scott later reflected. “It is such a beautiful place. Then you see the thousands upon thousands of graves and the reality of what occurred here during World War I is very hard to take in.”
The pair constantly talked about the need for more New Zealanders to know about our country’s sacrifice on the Western Front. While most knew about the much smaller human cost of the Gallipoli campaign, the same couldn’t be said for Passchendaele.
At the end of four days we boarded a bus back to Paris, along with some All Blacks fans who had tickets for the Rugby World Cup semifinals.
The All Blacks might not have been in those matches, but the memories gained and lessons learned from several special days with Scott and Allen were far more special than anything offered up in 80 minutes of test rugby.
Sir Fred Allen died at 92 in April 2012. Bob Scott, MBE, died in November 2012 aged 91.