Lest we forget
In towns throughout the south, communities came together to commemorate a century since the end of World War I. Reporters Ben Bootsma, Mary-Jo Tohill and Jamie Searle went to some of them to see how soldiers were being remembered.
In towns throughout the south, people came together to commemorate the day World War I ended 100 years ago.
In Invercargill, children with their ancestor’s medals weighing down their chests stood out.
At the cenotaph yesterday, the Ramsay family had four children wearing medals, handed down to them through five generations.
Marjorie Ramsay said her grandchildren were making their great-great relatives proud.
Samuel, 7, Jack, 8, and George Ramsay, 5, were sitting in silence when the cannon fired at the ceremony, the three boys jumped and said if they were around that like their forefathers were, they would have ‘‘just run’’.
Awarua Returned Services Association president Ian Beker said the RSA was proud of the way the ceremony went and he was happy to see so many children there honouring their family who fought in these wars.
‘‘They are the generation that will carry the torch.’’
Growing up, he would hear of stories from his father and grandfather about coming back from war, the parties and parades. ‘‘I came home expecting something like that but I was told to put away my uniform.’’
His mother told him not to say where he had been because the Vietnam veterans were not seen as heroes, he said.
However, times had changed from when he came back from war. Now veterans of all wars were held in the same esteem, he said.
Meanwhile, in Tapanui, the main street was closed off for a commemorative parade.
Bill Roulston wasn’t born when World War I officially ended, but he remembers vividly what life was like post-war.
At 98, he is one of the closest links to providing an insight into what sort of place rural New Zealand was like 100 years ago.
Born in 1924, Mr Roulston remembers well what it was like to live in towns post-war, depleted of men and resources.
‘‘When the men came back from Word War I, they never got a chance to get over it, and they never talked about it.
‘‘For a long time [after the wars] noone seemed to know what they were fighting for. Soldiers came home disillusioned because people thought they were fighting just for the British.
‘‘But they were fighting for their lives, for our lives, not just the British.’’
In a day filled with sunshine, parade convenor Gloria McHutchon said Tapanui knew how to put on events like these.
The town came together to provide the elements of a parade.
In Bluff, the town gathered a section of the Oyster Festival site that had been transformed into a remembrance area.
Biographies of Bluff, Greenhills and Omaui soldiers who died were displayed.
Three members of Bluff Promotions – Gloria Henderson, Alison Patrick and Heather Wills – organised the event to remember the soldiers.
Patrick spent the past two weeks compiling information on the soldiers and the war, with some material sourced from the Bluff history group and soldiers’ relatives.
A framed information board on Stewart Island and Bluff raised singer Evaline Skerrett had details of her performing for soldiers in army camps and soldier clubs in England during World War I. She was trained to sing by nuns in Bluff and went on to be highly successful in London theatre circles.