Lest We Forget

ANZAC Day - 100 Years On

They will not grow old as we that are left grow old. Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun, and in the morning we will remember them. Lest we forget.
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It’s a powerful poem the reminds all New Zealanders of the massive sacrifice made by our ANZACs. It becomes even more meaningful when we pause to remember this year, 2016 marks the 100th Anniversary of the ANZAC landings at Gallipoli. ​

​A barren, rocky beach overlooked by steep cliffs that provided perfect points for enemy soldiers to shoot down on us. Virtually everything that could possibly go wrong with the Gallipoli campaign, went wrong, and it’s regarded as one of the largest military failures of World War I. 

So why do we remember Gallipoli?

100 years ago, 18-year-old boys across Christchurch enlisted to join the army. They didn’t know where they were going. They had no idea what they would face when they arrived. In some cases the attitude was of excitement, and the promise of being home by Christmas. Many were bound to have been afraid.

A century ago, Christchurch’s 18-year-old girls signed up to become nurses and headed for the front lines. They did everything they could to assist soldiers suffering from gas poisoning, amputated limbs, terrible wounds, or just make them comfortable before they died.

By 1918 and the end of the first World War there wasn’t a single person in New Zealand who had not been affected. It was an event that touched everyone.

Compare the 18 year olds of 100 years ago to the Christchurch teenagers of today. It’s likely some will be finishing high school and thinking about university or polytech. Lots know what they want to do with their lives and will set out to achieve it! Others have no idea and might take some time figuring out what to do next. In 1918 those Christchurch teenagers would have been in similar positions of deciding what to do with their lives. Today we have these options available to us, while in 1918 they didn’t. 

Those teenagers had their lives interrupted by a global conflict. People they had never met, argued over places they hadn’t heard about, and decided sending their youth into battle was the best way to resolve those differences. 

The Cenotaph at Chunuk Bair reads: In memory of these officers, non-commissioned officers, and men of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force who lost their lives in the heroic assault on the heights of Sar Bair 6th-10th August 1915 in the capture of Chunuk Bair, and in subsequent battles and operations from August - December 1915, and who are not definitely recorded as buried in this or adjoining areas.

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New Zealanders fought and died on the beaches of Gallipoli, fields of Flanders, trenches of the Somme and so many more names of places etched into our minds so that we could have that choice.

At 6:30am on April 25th it will be cold. It might be wet. Getting out of your warm bed early in the morning to make it to Christchurch’s Cranmer Square will seem like a real sacrifice. Whether you go to the Dawn Service, one of the other commemorative ANZAC services around Christchurch, or just enjoy the holiday, that’s ok! You have a choice.

That’s why we commemorate ANZAC Day, and remember our country’s greatest military failure. To sincerely thank those brave men and women 100 years ago, and through every conflict since for their sacrifice and for giving us a choice.
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The Heat Pumps NOW team will be at Cranmer Square on ANZAC Day, and we hope to see you there.