March honours lives of long-lost old boys

The cross-bearing students of Napier Boys' High School, who made a special Anzac "long walk" yesterday. Photo / Paul Taylor

Like the 82 old boys of Napier Boys' High School who lost their lives during World War One (17 of them at Gallipoli) the young uniformed men of today were eager to volunteer to "do their bit".

Each was assigned the name of a long-lost old boy and a mission to carry out.

The mission of building a cross to commemorate them, but as principal Ross Brown said, they were to be built "battlefield style" - using scraps of timber as the comrades of the fallen would have used. Mr Brown, who effectively assumed the role of commanding officer during a special beachfront "Long Walk" march to school yesterday, was clearly proud of what his smart young platoon of troops came up with.

"We wanted to do something special, so each boy built his own cross, and as with the landings at Gallipoli it was fitting to march them along the beachfront."

The boys assembled at the Sound Shell colonnade and set out just after 8.30am, led by six pipers and four drummers made up of fellow pupils, as well as staff members and old boys. In single file, marshalled by prefects, they made their way along the Marine Parade walkway. As they passed several seafront motels, one couple on a balcony was seen applauding them.

At the front of the line, Year 13 student Paige Berkahn was bearing a special addition to the march. It was the bugle of old boy Herman Weber who served at Gallipoli 100 years ago and who was lucky to escape alive after being shot and seriously injured helping defend Hill 971 from a Turkish attack.

He strapped his beloved bugle to his leg and it took him four hours during the sheltering dark of the night to drag himself to the nearest dressing station.

He was eventually invalided off the beach back to England, where he spent two months recovering. On April 25, 1916, he was called up to play the Last Post at the first Anzac service in London - and among the gathering was Queen Mary.

"A lovely day - an enormous crowd watched us," he wrote in his diary. The young soldier then returned to the battlefields of Messines where, again, he was badly wounded and eventually returned home.

Yesterday it was Paige Berkahn's turn to play the historic bugle, which was gifted to the school by the Weber family.

"Very proud," he said, adding he had been a bit nervous as although the music student had played the Last Post at the school last year, this was the first time he had used the Weber bugle. "With all its history, it is something I will remember for a long time."

He played the Last Post and played it well, with Mr Brown reciting the ode and the young troops finishing it with the memorable words 'we will remember them".

The crosses, adorned with poppies knitted by Napier Boys' High School Association secretary Judith Craigie, were put into a grassed area beside the school entrance. While a sombre moment, it took place with the typical background sounds of lads at school - distant sounds of sports activities and excited chatter which the young men for whom they had each made a cross once enjoyed.