Te Awamutu RSA organisers, invited guests and veterans waiting in the sunshine before the ceremony started.
Te Awamutu RSA marked Armistice Day on Saturday, with RSA committee member and Waipā District councillor Lou Brown dedicating his address to those who lost their lives in war, and to those who returned.
A gathering of war veterans and members of the public listened intently as he explained how on the 11th hour or the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, World War One came to a ‘bitter and bloody’ end.
Te Awamutu RSA president Peter Watson recites The Ode as the flag is lowered, accompanied by RSA member Adan Te Huia.
“The New Zealand Expeditionary Force had received its baptism of fire at Gallipoli in 1915, and went on to drench the soil of France and the Western Front with the blood of young New Zealanders for the next three years.
“The total number of New Zealand troops and nurses that served overseas during the 1914-18 First World War, excluding those who served in the British and other dominion forces, was 103,000 from a population of just over a million people.
Te Awamutu Community Cadet Unit members Corporal Howarth, Cadet Rangiawha, Cadet Kelly, Lance-Corporal Berggren and Cadet Quinn, march to take up their positions at the cenotaph.
“Forty-two percent of all men of military age served in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. Of these 16,697 were killed and 41,317 were wounded during this war, which represents a fifty-eight percent casualty rate. We remember their sacrifice … we remember those who fought, those who fell, and all those who served.”
The service was conducted by RSA padre Rev Murray Olson, with Alan Whitiora as parade commander.
Te Awamutu RSA committee member Lou Brown delivering the dedication at the service.
Te Awamutu’s Armistice Day service emcee Graham Smith at the lecturn as the National Anthem is sung, led by Musical Allsorts.
