ANZAC Day Dawn Service

E nga mate, nga aitua, o koutou, araa o matou, ka tangihia e tatou i tenei wa.  Haere, haere, haere.

To the dead and to those being mourned, both yours and ours, we lament them and farewell them.

Tatou te hunga ora, tena tatou katoa.

To we, the living, greetings to all of us.

Soldiers, veterans, New Zealanders.  Today, on the morning of ANZAC Day 2004, we remember New Zealanders killed in war.  And we honour our returned servicemen and women.

The story of New Zealanders serving their country is one redolent of both pride and sorrow.  We are intensely proud of the heroism and bravery of those who fought.  But there is sorrow at the loss of life, the loss of friends and family, the loss of so many good New Zealanders.

On ANZAC Day, we remember the 2,721 New Zealanders who died at Gallipoli.  We remember also the many thousands who gave their lives in earlier and later campaigns.  South Africa.  The Western Front, the Somme, Passchendael.  The second World War, the Battle for Crete, El Alamein, Monte Cassino.  Korea.  Malaya.  Vietnam.  East Timor.  There were also many deaths of New Zealanders serving in air force and naval units around the world.

There are few New Zealand families that have not been touched by loss of life, or injury in these wars fought by young men and women often in places so remote, so exotic that many would not previously have heard of them. We therefore remember not only those who died, but their friends and comrades, their families, their sons and daughters, their fathers and mothers.  .

All round the world today there will be similar ceremonies attended by those who remain grateful to the ANZACs for their sacrifice.  In Gallipoli itself there will be thousands of New Zealanders and people of many other nations marking this day.  And the Turks themselves - 89 years ago our bitter enemies - will be present to honour our courage and mourn our shared losses.  And together we pray for peace.

We remember in particular today our cousins across the Tasman with whom our soldiers fought side by side.  Like us, they are today reflecting on the courage and sacrifice of those who fought for our countries, for our safety and for our peace.

The presence of so many children and young men and women at ANZAC ceremonies is a stark reminder of the youth of those who fought for us. Look at them and wonder at the fears of their families, at their terror as they faced fierce fighting and watched their friends die.  Listen to these words written to mark the evacuation in 1915, by a 23 year old Australian soldier-poet Leon Gellert, a combatant at Gallipoli. 

[The Last to Leave, written by 23-year-old Australian soldier-poet Leon Gellert, a combatant at Gallipoli, to mark the evacuation of the peninsula in 1915.]

The guns were silent, and the silent hills

had bowed their grasses to a gentle breeze

I gazed upon the vales and on the rills

And whispered, "What of these?" and "What of these?"

These long forgotten dead with sunken graves,

 Some crossless, with unwritten memories

Their only mourners are the moaning waves,

Their only minstrels are the singing trees

And thus I mused and sorrowed wistfully.

Lest we forget. 

No reira, tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa.