Wairarapa students shared in the solemn commemoration of Anzac yesterday with white Fields of Remembrance crosses gracing school grounds throughout the region.
Principals including Sue Walters of Masterton Primary School and Alastair Kay of South End School in Carterton agreed the services held at each school yesterday morning had engaged the children completely, with MPS also featuring Wairarapa College bugler Cheviot Fraser, 15, and a rendition of The Ode from MPS student Janelle Hargood-Connor,10.
Mr Kay, whose wife Mary and daughter Jessica will be at Gallipoli this weekend, said the Fields of Remembrance had helped students value and learn of the sacrifices made by so many New Zealand servicemen and women during WWI.
The Fields of Remembrance Trust and the Ministry of Education had given each school and kura in the country 30 white crosses, and the names of 22 soldiers and a nurse from their wider region, names of New Zealand Victoria Cross recipients, and the legend Known Unto God to represent the unknown soldier. Each name was randomly selected from the list of 18,200 New Zealanders killed in WWI.
Hadlow School students, who held a Fields of Remembrance service yesterday as well, had earlier this year formed among themselves a "Dad's Army" of soldiers and nurses during studies about WWI and the armed services in New Zealand.
