Still a day for quiet tears
It was 11 years since Far North Mayor John Carter attended the Anzac Day commemoration at Gallipoli, but the memories of that day, and his own family’s contribution to war, moved him to tears at yesterday’s civic commemoration in Kaitaia.
He had long understood that the young New Zealanders who stormed on to the beach at Gallipoli on April 25, 1915, had come from all walks of life, and had been prepared to risk everything for those who would follow, but it was Gallipoli in 2007 that had brought home the reality.
“I will never forget sitting there at 4am, in the pitch dark, and suddenly lights on the ships out on the water lit up the beach and the cliffs where the enemy had sat, waiting for our soldiers to come ashore to attack them,” he said.
“It made me stupidity of war.
realise the
“The bravery of those men young New Zealand and Australian men, their sacrifice, was unbelievable. I don’t think I could have done it.”
Attending a performance of the play Billy Goes to War , in Kerikeri a few days earlier, had also been an emotional experience, revealing the impact of war on the soldiers’ families at home.
“It brought home to to me again the anguish suffered by our forebears and families whose sons went through this for us,” he said.
He was heartened, however, once again by the public support for commemorations in Kerikeri, where he attended the dawn service, in Kaitaia later in the morning, and throughout the country.
“Your attendance at these services shows that we care, that we want to acknowledge the past and not make the same mistakes again,” he said.