Each year veteran numbers dwindle at Anzac parades but we still remember the sacrifices they made.
"They shall grow not 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."
It doesn't matter how many Anzac dawn services I attend those words from the Ode to Remembrance strike me to my core every time I hear them.
Perhaps it is the scene.
In the quiet just before the dawn on Anzac Day among thousands of others standing together there is a feeling of comradeship and community.
Some will be remembering loved ones who had served, or those who fell because fate did not spare them. Others are there just to pay tribute to the armed forces as a whole - those soldiers, airmen and sailors who fought for King, country, friends and family.
From the nightmare that was Gallipoli, to the even more hellish Western Front, in the Pacific against the Japanese or pitting themselves against the Germans and Italians in the Western Desert, Greece, Italy, Crete. In the air above Europe during the Battle of Britain or the raids by Bomber Command to destroy Germany's economy and will to fight.
Following the world wars it was Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam, peacekeeping missions, East Timor, Iraq, Solomon Islands and Afghanistan.
Watching the ever-fewer elderly World War II men marching as best they can around the Cenotaph at the Mount it's hard to imagine them as fit, hard young men who took on some of the best troops the world has produced and beat them. Oh so many of them are frail, the cost of age has wearied them, but in their steps there is still a burning pride and a determination not to show weakness to themselves, the crowd, or the spirits of those who died young and who are watching still.
I wonder if during the Dawn Service they are transported back to their youth. As speeches are made do they listen? Or are they instead picturing themselves with their mates during fun times or horrific moments all those years ago.
Would these veterans have allowed themselves the silent tears that I see rolling down their cheeks 75 years ago?
I doubt it, unless in extreme circumstances.
What are they seeing in their minds that we will never know?
While I ask the question, it is one I don't wish to know the answer to.
It is an intensely personal matter for each and every veteran and those of us who have not served in action should respect that privacy.
As we should respect the sacrifice made by millions of men who lost years of their lives in the service of their countries.
Men such as my grandfather who joined up to serve and were promised their jobs would be there when they got back.
After years of combat in Italy and then in the occupation of Germany he returned to Britain where he found the lounge lizards who stayed at home were in charge and his assured position was a job several rungs down the ladder.
Even today many veterans are treated shabbily by governments, with politicians the first to be shaking hands and smiling at official events but the last to be giving out benefits to those who fought and those who were injured or mentally scarred by their war efforts.
One of the worst was disabled British Falklands War veterans not being invited to the official victory parade until the UK media raised a massive outcry over the outrageous snub.
But it happens in all countries as those who fought fall victims to bureaucracy and governmental parsimony.
I don't believe we do enough for veterans in New Zealand.
Take, for example, the Veteran's Pension.
Now I thought by the title that all veterans received a pension for their war service but, no, it is limited.
According to Work and Income you may get Veteran's Pension if you have served in the New Zealand Armed Forces in a war or other emergency and have a War Disablement Pension or are under 65 years with a disability that stops you working long-term or permanently.
And the rate of disablement? At least 70 per cent!
Looking at the old soldiers, sailors and airmen at the Dawn Service I wondered how many of them were struggling to survive in a society they served.
Are they coping with expensive rents, high food costs and spiralling electricity prices?
Or does our society only treat them well on April 25, Anzac Day, and then allow them to slip away into the background as we get on with our own lives?
"They shall grow not 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."
Richard Moore is an award-winning Western Bay journalist and photographer.
Richard@richardmoore.com
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