Members of the armed forces marched into the RSA cemetery in Woodville for the first service held there for some time.
Members of the armed forces marched into the RSA cemetery in Woodville for the first service held there for some time.
When Tararua district mayor Tracey Collis went out with the teams to survey the damage after Cyclone Gabrielle last year, she thought the region looked like a war zone.
“I recall, looking at the scars and the pieces of land missing, that it looked like a war zone and the hills had been bombed,” she told those assembled at the dawn service on Anzac Day in Woodville.
“After visiting Europe, I was wrong. Bombing leaves a very different scar on the land.
“In New Zealand, we don’t live with the sight of war in our daily lives as they do, with pillboxes and areas of depression from bombs, to today still finding trenches when developing land.”
Tracey spoke of her visit to Europe for the opening of Te Arawhata, the New Zealand Liberation Museum at Le Quesnoy, at the Anzac dawn service in Fountaine Square in Woodville.
The crowd, including soldiers and emergency personnel, assembled during the dawn service at Fountaine Square on Anzac Day.
“I’m proud that we recognised that our people needed a place to stand in Europe, a place where our history and our stories could be told.”
She spoke of the story of the New Zealand division who, after learning from years of war, went on to liberate the town of Le Quesnoy.
“The New Zealand division was one of the best fighting divisions in France. They learnt from experience at Gallipoli, the battle of the Somme, and three long years in Europe.”
She says at the opening of the museum, former governor general Sir Jerry Mateparae spoke of the soldiers’ decision that reflected “who we are”.
“Reflecting the Māori proverb, ‘what is the most important thing in the world: he tangata, he tangata, he tangata’.” (It is people, it is people, it is people.)
Tracey says many of the soldiers who fought at Le Quesnoy came from rural New Zealand and it hurt them to see the devastation, how the Germans had destroyed the farms.
She says after the town was freed and the order given to leave, the men stayed behind to help with the clean-up.
“The Kiwi spirit that is often referred to, and that is not easily defined, but clearly evident at Le Quesnoy and why their people love us and hold us close within their hearts.”
A total of 122 New Zealanders lost their lives at Le Quesnoy and Tracey left a tribute on the wall from “all of us here in the Tararua District”.
Rows of crosses beside the cenotaph at Woodville during the dawn service on Anzac Day.
The dawn service was the first of three services held in Woodville.
The second was at the RSA Lawn Cemetery and was followed by a civic service.
Wreaths were laid beside the cenotaph by Tararua District Council, RSA and community organisations as well as relatives of those who served, during the Anzac service in Woodville.
Wreaths were laid at the cenotaph and at the cemetery.
Reverend Rosie McMillan recites a prayer while Woodville and Districts RSA president Dale Stokes looks on.
The laying of wreaths.
President of Woodville and Districts RSA president Dale Stokes says the decision had been made years ago to stop services at the RSA cemetery following concerns about traffic from State Highway 3, but given the Manawatu Gorge was now closed to traffic, it was decided to resume services.
