The Feilding Brass Band led the march from the Ashhurst RSA to the Village Green. Photo / Judith Lacy
The Feilding Brass Band led the march from the Ashhurst RSA to the Village Green. Photo / Judith Lacy
Who are these men who march so proud? Who quietly weep, eyes closed, head bowed. "These are men who once were boys, who missed out on youth and all its joys.
Who are these men with aged faces who silently count the empty spaces? These are the men who gave their all, who fought for their country, for freedom for all."
Alane Nilsen read this poem written by an unknown 12-year-old girl in 1966 at the Anzac Day Civic Service at Ashhurst Village Green on Monday.
MC Major Tim Cocks said it was the last Anzac Day service in Manawatū for 2022. The noon start gave returned servicepeople who find the dawn service hard to attend the chance to take part.
Noel Woodley (standing) served in Thailand and Robert Tomlin in Malaya. Photo / Judith Lacy
Mayor Grant Smith said he was last able to attend the Ashhurst service in 2019, barely a month after the Christchurch Terror Attack and the country was still reeling from that atrocity.
Today, the whole world is reeling from a further atrocity as Russia unleashes the unspeakable horrors of war on the people of Ukraine, Smith said.
Both these calamities show how quickly peace can unravel. If peace is not proactively pursued, violence and bloodshed can quickly escalate.
Anzac Day is our check, our pulse. It's a day that gives us occasion to reflect on the huge cost war, bloodshed and violence imposes on our lives and livelihoods, on bodies and on minds.
Smith said it has been observed Ashhurst probably has more Anzac Day services per head of population than anywhere else in the country. There's a good reason for that - rural towns and villages were hit hard by the depletion of manpower from World War I.
Colleen Carr laid a wreath on behalf of the Ashhurst Senior Citizens Association. Photo / Judith Lacy
Brigadier Leslie Andrew was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions during the Battle of Passchendaele in 1917. He was born in 1897, the son of an Ashhurst school teacher.
Too young to enlist when World War I broke out, he falsified his age and was sent to France in 1916.
He died in Palmerston North in 1969 aged 71 and Roslyn's Andrew Ave is named in his honour.
Smith said in 2022 we live in times that have uncanny echoes of the period of war and illness that existed in 1918 and 1919, of the 1930s lead-in to World War II, and of the 1950s and 60s Cold War.
"Let's pray and hope that the lesson of Anzac Day will never be forgotten - that at all costs peace is worth pursuing, promoting, preserving, and protecting."
Ben Fraser and his son Duncan, 5, laid a wreath on behalf of Ashhurst Volunteer Fire Brigade. Photo / Judith Lacy
Deputy Mayor and Ashhurst resident Aleisha Rutherford laid a wreath, accompanied by her son Max who is nearly 5.
As people marched from the RSA to the Village Green retailers stood outside their premises as a sign of respect.
