As ANZAC Dawn Broke
About 500 Cambridge citizens commemorated ANZAC Day’s dawn parade, solemnly standing in the early morning mist remembering our fallen countrymen and relatives. Lest we forget.
A moving ceremony was held in the town square where Rev Canon Adrian Gover led the Dawn Service as the Last Post echoed across the town. “Loss of young lives during wars has cut deeply. A swathe of loss has cut across our country and through our families. We must never send our young men and women overseas to fight wars again,’ he said.
Winston Churchill said, “What have we learned from War? We haven’t”
About ten remaining War Veterans and other RSA representatives stood to attention in the centre of the square as the guard of honour marched to the Cenotaph. Family members wearing medals from awarded to their brave relatives were encouraged to stand with the War Veterans and sing the New Zealand and Australian National Anthems.
Afterwards the crowd silently walked to the Cenotaph, where the New Zealand flag was at half-mast, and placed poppies at the feet of the statue to honour our fallen soldiers. A memorable and moving experience for everyone and a reminder of the price paid for our democratic freedoms.
By Author Nicky Webber, writer of No Ordinary Man.
nicky@how.co.nz or search nickywebbernz on Facebook.
Lisa was born in Auckland at the start of the 1970s, living in a small campsite community on the North Shore called Browns Bay. She spent a significant part of her life with her grandparents, often hanging out at the beaches. Lisa has many happy memories from those days at Browns Bay beach, where fish were plentiful on the point and the ocean was rich in seaweed. She played in the water for hours, going home totally “sun-kissed.” “An adorable time to grow up,” Lisa tells me.
Lisa enjoyed many sports; she was a keen tennis player and netballer, playing in the top teams for her age right up until the family moved to Wellington. Lisa was fifteen years old, which unfortunately marked the end of her sporting career. Local teams were well established in Wellington, and her attention was drawn elsewhere.