Editorial: Remembering the greatest sacrifice

Hawke's Bay Today News Editor James Ford. Photo / File.

On Wednesday we commemorate New Zealanders and Australians who served and died in all wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations, and the contribution and suffering of all those who have served.

It's always a humbling time of year.

It's easy to live our day-to-day lives and not truly understand nor appreciate the freedoms we enjoy.

It is also challenging to comprehend the immense bravery and selflessness of those that made the biggest sacrifice of all.

I often wonder about the feelings and emotions of those in battle when watching documentaries on the world wars and other conflicts.
And the tendency to never talk of the horrors of war after returning home.

My great-grandfather served in World War I and fought at Passchendaele.

Although I never met him, my grandmother spoke of how he would not talk of the Great War.

One can only imagine the emotional and psychological effects the terrifying scenes of battle had on those that returned.

And also the tremendous sense of loss felt by the families of those that never came home.
The unanswered questions of how and where and a void left that can never be filled.

It is for this tremendous courage and willingness to put their own lives in danger to ensure the freedom of generations that followed that we can never be thankful enough.

But we will always remember the sacrifice they made, and, hopefully, prevent such awful events from happening again.