Anzac Day is a symbol of New Zealand’s commitment to past and present conflicts and peacekeeping operations, and New Zealand Servicewomen and men both at home and overseas will commemorate the occasion. The Chief of Defence Force, Air Marshal Bruce Ferguson, is to accompany the Prime Minister and veterans travelling to Gallipoli for Anzac Day to mark the 90th anniversary of the Gallipoli Landings.
Ten secondary school students from throughout New Zealand will also travel to Gallipoli with the official delegation. The students are the winners of an essay competition on aspects of the Gallipoli campaign. Other key NZDF personnel will represent New Zealand at ceremonies throughout the world, including Thailand, New Caledonia, Hawaii, and cities and towns throughout New Zealand.
Veterans past and present are expected to turn out in full at dawn and civic services, at war memorials and Beat Retreat ceremonies.
Wellington veteran Mr Charlie Bell, who turns 82 a week after Anzac Day, will lay a wreath at the National War Memorial in remembrance of his Maori Battalion colleagues. He’ll be thinking of the mates he lost in Korea, where he also fought in 1950. He returned from the battlefields of Europe, and volunteered for Korea a couple of years later. He served 20 months as a gunner in the 16th Field regiment, came home to New Zealand, and returned to the war-torn country for another year.
"I was single, and I had very strong feelings about the communists and what they were doing, so I thought, ‘Why not?’
Lieutenant Vicki Rendall, 25, a seaman officer in the Royal New Zealand Navy for seven years, lost a great-uncle in World War II, and she and her family have always observed Anzac Day. She will commemorate Anzac Day in Wellington after arriving home from a brief posting on board HMNZS Te Mana in Southeast Asia where the frigate is undertaking a Defence diplomacy mission. Lt Rendall was on operation in the Gulf on HMNZS Te Kaha in 2002-2003.
"For me Anzac Day is special, and it’s a day to remember the servicemen and women who went before us."