Armistice Day marked in Central Hawke’s Bay

Flags at the Waipawa Cenotaph are lowered to half-mast to the sound of The Last Post, played by bugler Bruce Kitto.

Flags were flying at War Memorials across Central Hawke’s Bay on Monday as the sirens sounded at 11.11am to commemorate Armistice Day.

Armistice Day marks the day World War I came to an end – the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month on November 11, 1918.

In Central Hawke’s Bay and all around the world, people took a moment to stop and reflect on history.

New Zealand’s population in 1914 was just over one million, with over 100,000 young men and women serving our nation overseas. People from Central Hawke’s Bay fought in Greece, Crete, North Africa, Tunisia, Italy and the Treasury Islands.

Bugler Bruce Kitto and piper Raewyn King at Waipawa's Armistice Day service.

Total casualties from this conflict were estimated at 40 million people, both military personnel and civilians. Sixteen-thousand NZ soldiers were killed, with a further 41,000 wounded. Twenty years later the world was plunged into another, even worse conflict.

In Waipawa, members of the Waipawa and District RSA, as well as members of the public, gathered at the War Memorial Clock, to the sound of the pipes played by Raewyn King, to participate in a brief service to mark the occasion.

Standing in for Waipawa and District RSA president Terry Kingston, who was injured, retired Waipawa and District RSA president Maitland Manning spoke, urging people to remember the catastrophic effect WWI had on Waipawa and its districts, losing 86 men.

“This service is more a reminder than a remembrance. It is a reminder of the horrors of war and its insatiable appetite for a nation’s young men.”

Retired Waipawa and District RSA president Maitland Manning, QSM, stood in for Waipawa and District RSA president Terry Kingston, who was injured.

As Waipawa’s War Memorial Clock chimed at 11am and fire sirens sounded throughout Central Hawke’s Bay, bugler Bruce Kitto prepared to play The Last Post – a signal for flags to be lowered to half-mast as a mark of respect for WWI′s fallen soldiers.

A minute’s silence and then Reville – the flags were taken aloft once more and those present were invited to place a poppy at the foot of the cenotaph in remembrance of those who “loved and were loved and now ... lie in Flanders Fields.”