“Known unto God”

Visiting war graves in France and Belgium is moving and sobering.

They are immaculately kept, thanks to the work of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

They are peaceful, in stark contrast to the noise and brutality that those buried there endured.

They are a tragic reminder to the tragedy of war and what so many sacrificed in the fight for freedom.

So many of the men who are buried there were so young – in their teens and early 20s.

Private V.J. Cameron of the Otago Regiment is one of them buried in the Caterpillar Valley Cemetery.

In World War I, soldiers didn’t have dog tags and many bodies were unable to be identified. Tomb stones for them have the inscription Known unto God.

Tyne Cot Cemetery:

They shall grow not old . . .

France and Belgium are home to immaculately kept cemeteries, tended by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), where those killed in the two World Wars now lie.

Some headstones bear the names of the dead, others mark the graves of those not able to be identified and have the inscription known unto God.

Visiting the cemeteries is both humbling and sobering – so many lives, most of them young, lost so far from home.

In Ypres, every night since 1928, the Last Post is played.

When I told one of the men who is part of the ceremony that theirs was an amazing tribute, he replied that nothing they do could be compared with what the people they are remembering did for them.

Last month the New Zealand Liberation Museum opened in Le Quesnoy, dedicated to the men who freed the town from German occupation in 1918.

It too brings home the high price paid by so many.

Looking at the peaceful countryside around the cemeteries we can only imagine just how terrible the conditions those who fought endured.

So many didn’t survive to grow old.

It is both frustrating, and tragic, that today 105 years after the war that was supposed to end all wars concluded, peace is allusive in so many other places and so many others shall grow not old.

WWI: changing the fabric of our nation

Statistics NZ has produced an infographic commemorating Armistice Day :

Statistics Minister Craig Foss said:.

“The First World War was a significant event in New Zealand’s history — it helped define us as a nation and it continues to have a lasting impact,” Mr Foss says.

“I am proud to be able to tell the story of this important event through statistics.”

The First World War – Changing the Fabric of our Nation infographic has been developed by Statistics New Zealand in partnership with the WW100 Programme Office.

“Communities, towns and cities rallied to the call for ‘King and Country’ in 1914. Just over 100,000 New Zealand troops served overseas from a population of barely one million,” Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Maggie Barry says.

“The WW100 centenary honours the sacrifice of those who fought and will also tell the story of those who remained at home.”

The infographic uses historical census data to highlight key events prior, during and just after the war.

 The infographic is too wide for the post, you can see it all here.

We developed the First World War – Changing the fabric of our nation infographic in partnership with the Ministry of Culture and Heritage WW100 Programme Office, and with valuable assistance from the New Zealand Defence Force, to mark the First World War centenary from 2014 to 2018. The First World War was one of the most significant events of the 20th century and we are proud to commemorate this important event through the statistics we’ve been gathering about New Zealand for over 100 years.

The infographic aims to present key information about the war and its impact on New Zealand. With the limited space available on an infographic, depicting all factual information relevant to this significant historical event is difficult.

We developed this infographic for any organisation or group to use in their commemoration activities and events. We are happy to share relevant files with these groups for republication.

 

The WW100 programme and other resources are available at WW100.govt.nz

December 23 in history

On December 23:

1732 Richard Arkwright, English industrialist and inventor, was born.

Richard Arkwright by Joseph Wright of Derby

1822  Wilhelm Bauer, German engineer, was born.

1867  Madam C.J. Walker, American philanthropist and tycoon, was born.

1893 The opera Hänsel und Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck was first performed.

1913 The Federal Reserve Act was signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson, creating the Federal Reserve.

 

1914  World War I: Australian and New Zealand troops arrived in Cairo, Egypt.

1925  Rayner Unwin, British book publisher, was born.

1933  Akihito, Emperor of Japan, was born.

1937  First flight of the Vickers Wellington bomber.

1938  Discovery of the first modern coelacanth in South Africa.

1947 The transistor was first demonstrated at Bell Laboratories.

 A replica of the first working transistor

1951  Anthony Phillips, British musician (Genesis), was born.

1953 Queen Elizabeth II arrived in New Zealand, the first reigning monarch to visit.

1954  The first human kidney transplant is performed by Dr. Joseph E. Murray at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.

1958  Dedication of Tokyo Tower, world’s highest self-supporting iron tower.

1964 Eddie Vedder, American musician (Pearl Jam), was born.

1970 The North Tower of the World Trade Center in Manhattan was topped out at 1,368 feet (417 m), making it the tallest building in the world.

1972 The Nicaraguan capital of Managua was struck by a 6.5 magnitude earthquake which killed more than 10,000.

1972 The 16 survivors of the Andes flight disaster were rescued after 73 days, having survived by cannibalism.

1986  Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, lands at Edwards Air Force Base in California becoming the first aircraft to fly non-stop around the world.

1990  In a referendum, 88% of Slovenia‘s population vote for independence from Yugoslavia.

2002 A MQ-1 Predator is shot down by an Iraqi MiG-25, making it the first time in history that an aircraft and an unmanned drone had engaged in combat.

2004  Macquarie Island in the Southern Ocean was hit by an 8.1 magnitude earthquake.

2005  Chad declares a state of war against Sudan following a December 18 attack on Adré, which left about 100 people dead.

Sourced from NZ History Online and Wikipedia.

Lest we forget

When I was at school everything stopped for a minute at 11am on the 11th day of the 11th month while we observed a minute’s silence in commemoration of the end of World War I.

It’s called Remembrance Day in Britain. Our remembrance day is Anzac Day but it is still important to acknowledge Armistice Day, to remember the sacrifices so many people made for us and to be grateful for peace.

And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda, by Eric Bogle is about Anzac Day commemorations, rather than those for Armistice Day, but the story it relates is set during World War I.

Boots Belts Rifle & Pack

Boots, Belts, Rifle & Pack is the story of  William Malcolm’s service in the New Zealand Army during World War I, recounted through a compilation of the letters he wrote home to his family.

Through the letters, the reader learns what it was like for a young man from a North Otago farm to train at Trentham, travel to England and then serve on the battle fields of France. They are matter of fact, giving a lot of the small details of day to day ordinary life in extraordinary circumstances.

Among the correspondence is the letter to his mother written after he learned that his brother, George, had been killed.

. . .  We were camped near an old sugar refienry or what was left of it. McKenzie had told me that George’s grave was about 500 yards north along a sunken road. On three different days I searched for nearly a mile along and in from the road but although I found many 4th Bttn chaps there I could not find him. I found Harry Cottingham within a couple of hundred yds of the factory. He was knocked out on the 6th. Poor old Harry. I had seen him about a week before. The Dinks had their usual luck. On Marching up, they found Fritz marching through the village so you can guess what it was like. They drove him back to a position which the Dinks and our chaps took a few days later. The trenches they took  were in a fearful mess. Old Fritz shelled us a bit but not a great deal We spent 4 days there and shifted back further for the rest of the time. I scored 4 or 5 letter up there date 27th and 31st of Jan. One funny thin is that I had a letter from Dunrobbin dated 18 Feb. today I scored a tin of biscuits from Elsie. . .

Boots, Belts, Rifle & Pack, a New Zealand Soldier at War, edited and compiled by Dorothy McKenzie and Lindsay Malcolm, published by L.M Malcolm, 1992.

In Flanders Fields

It’s Armistice Day and the 90th anniversary of the end of World War 1.

In Flanders Fields

by John McCrae, May 1915

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep,
though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Keeping Stock ,  PM of NZ and Oswald Bastable  also remember.

UPDATE: Lou Taylor at No Minister  and Barnsley Bill  mark the date too.

My grandfather fought in Egypt where he looked after the horses and, thankfully, was not sent to Gallipoli.

He didn’t like talking about the war and Mum remembered him burying his medals in the garden, never to be seen again.

UPDATE 2: Poneke  posts on the sons who lie in Flanders fields.