Horowhenua’s Sacrifice

We will remember and honour the lives of more than 18,000 New Zealanders in a world conflict that took a huge toll on an emerging nation of little over 1 million people. Tens of thousands were wounded but there is no figure for those who returned emotionally scarred and traumatised by the horrors they witnessed.

Of those fighting for King and Country, just over 900 men enlisted from Horowhenua, men who were born in the district or who had moved here to live and work.

In Levin, men heading off to war were enthusiastically farewelled at public functions and presented with a ‘cardigan jacket’ made the by the ladies’ committee of Levin patriotic society.

Those who returned were met at the train and welcomed home by their grateful families and appreciative mayor.

Those who lost their lives on the battlefields of Gallipoli, Flanders and France could only be mourned by their loved ones, their names inscribed on memorials to be remembered forever.