Heather Roy's Diary - ANZAC Day

act-new-zealand

Sat Apr 25 2009 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

Heather Roy's Diary - ANZAC Day

Saturday, 25 April 2009, 1:26 pm
Press Release: ACT New Zealand

Hon Heather Roy, ACT Deputy Leader
Friday April 24 2009

I began writing this week's diary with the thought that it would be straightforward. I was wrong. There are so many emotions associated with ANZAC Day that I found it very difficult to distil them down to a theme that I could do justice to in a single page.

I have been attending ANZAC services for as long as I can remember. Honouring the sacrifice of others began, for me, with shivering in my Brownie uniform in the chill of a Palmerston (Otago) morning and a few years later my Girl Guide uniform wasn't much warmer!

Thinking back, several ANZAC services are particularly memorable for me. Laying a wreath as a 7th Former at East Otago High School, standing with my platoon on basic training in Waiouru in 2006, firing volleys with my 5th Battalion mates in 2007 and ‘08 and selling poppies on the corner of Cuba Street and Manners Mall over the last 3 years all spring instantly to mind.

This ANZAC Day is also going to be very special because, amongst other official duties, I have the pleasure of speaking at my home town ANZAC service in Palmerston (a small South island town of around 900 people). On my first ANZAC Day as Associate Minister of Defence, going home seemed particularly apt.

This will combine everything that is best about ANZAC Day - remembrance, service and family. Summing up my strongest memories of ANZAC is the memory of being actively involved and I encourage every New Zealander to find some way to do likewise.

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When we gather in remembrance or repeat the line ‘lest we forget' what is it we seek to remember? Dawn is such an evocative time.

For servicemen and women, it is a time rich in nostalgia. Dawn stand-to, lying on cold ground behind a rifle or machine gun occasionally catching a glimpse of your own unit's clearing patrols moving around the perimeter. Seeing the sun's first rays from your ship's station or your aircraft cockpit. Having your parachute equipment checked one last time. Climbing down cargo nets from a warship into landing craft in a heavy sea. Seeing the New Zealand flag slide slowly up the mast.

There is no doubt that every nation owes a tremendous debt to those that are prepared to fight for freedom. It is important that we also remember the many ways in which people serve this cause - the Armed Forces overseas and at home, the Merchant Navy, humanitarian organisations, those manning essential services on which our forces rely, and all their families.

The old adage "They also serve who stay at home and wait" is very true. We must never forget the debt of gratitude that we owe the families of our servicemen and women. When I farewelled the most recent contingent of NZDF personnel to Afghanistan just over a week ago I commented about the huge gap that would be left when their loved ones boarded the aircraft.

Young Kiwis have unhesitatingly put their lives on the line decade after decade. So too have our Australian neighbours and the best young people of every country in the world. Those who have served the cause of freedom, in any way whatsoever, can look into their own hearts and draw deductions, with confidence, about what the fallen would want us to remember. Amid the chaos and discomfort, the exhaustion and the boredom - one desire rises above all others - PEACE.

And the price of peace is eternal vigilance - Lest we forget.

LEST WE FORGET - NEW ZEALAND'S FIRST POPPY DAY (24 APRIL 1922)

The New Zealand Returned Soldiers' Association, as it was then known, placed its first order for 366,000 silk poppies in 1921. This first Poppy Day appeal was to be held on Armistice Day - in conjunction with similar initiatives in the UK, Canada and Australia.

Unfortunately, the ship carrying the poppies arrived too late, leaving inadequate time in which to promote Poppy Day. The NZRSA decided to postpone it and, on 24 April, 1922, poppies were sold in New Zealand for the first time.

The initiative was enormously successful and made this country unique for associating the poppy with ANZAC rather than Remembrance Day. By comparison, those of you who have attended ANZAC Day services in Australia will recall the wearing of a sprig on ANZAC Day.

Whatever the symbol worn, the powerful feeling of remembrance is undeniable. Wear your poppy with pride.

ENDS

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