For reader in other countries, firstly an explanation of what the next series of post are about.
When World War 1 broke out in 1914 Britain called upon its overseas colonies to provide troops and in both Australia and New Zealand large numbers of young men (and a few women) signed up. By the end of the war some 100,000 Kiwis (as we refer to ourselves) had served which at the time was 10% of the countries population. A large number of those were killed or injured and it is estimates that a third of the population was affected in someway.
In early 1915 the British Military leaders brought together divisions of Australian and New Zealand troops and they were called the “Australian & New Zealand Army Corp” or ANZAC for short. On April 25 1915 the ANZAC’s went into their first action landing on the beaches of Gallipoli in modern day Turkey.
The mission was a disaster from the start with inaccurate information and essentially incompetent British commanding officers, so of who had little regard for the safety of their men. For 8 months they tried to hang on against fierce opposition to no avail.
Since then on April 25 each year in towns and cities all around Australia and New Zealand the spirit of the ANZACs, and everyone else who fought in the many wars since are remembered.
This year marks the 100 year anniversary of the landings and as such there has been a much larger focus, than in the previous years. In Wellington events commemorating the centennial started last Saturday and there was plenty of opportunity to get out an take photos.
To do them justice I am going to split up the entries into a series of posts. Once I have them all loved I will come back and edit this post to place direct links into them.
pwfotos 