Today we visited the Hororata War Memorial, where both the Big T’s great uncles are remembered. A very solemn moment shared with the solitary honour guard.
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Zimmerbitch 
I cannot reiterated enough how important it is to remember the sacrifices made for the freedoms we enjoy and, all too often, squander. War is always horrible, but there are some times when we must fight. We must, however, always remember the dead and honor the living of those who do this for us.
janet
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I agree Janet. It is heartening to see memorials and commemorations up and down the country, including in the smallest of rural settlements. Of the eight names on the panel above the guard, two of them were Great Uncles of the Big T. The total number of men from that tiny village who died in WWI was 15, and I imagine there were other families that lost more than one son.
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Thank you for sharing his tranquil moment of remembrance with us, Su. Your picture evokes a perfect sense of calm and silent sadness even though the sun’s shining.
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Thank you Sarah. It was a very special time and place for us.Both of the Big T’s great uncles are commemorated on that memorial — and it was very moving to see the lone guard standing sentinel over the dead and their memories. Hororata is a very small community, and yet lost 15 of its sons in WWI.
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I´ve just watched “The Water Diviner” with Russel Crowe which is about an Australian Farmer who´s traveling to Turkey to find his three sons that never came back from Gallipoli. It said that WWI was the first war after which efforts were undertaken to identify the fallen and make sure they were all commemorated. I never knew that before and wonder why this wasn’t done before… Anyway, a really good film and emphasizing how utterly strange it was and still is for young men to travel around the world to fight in a war that isn’t really theirs but feel obliged to do it because of crown and country etc.
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I’ve heard really good things about the film, but haven’t seen it yet. I watched a TV show about Gallipoli last year and learned that too. There was one particular man, an Australian journalist who spent years after the war going over the battlegrounds at Gallipoli trying to collect dog tags and document graves. He worked for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and was instrumental in setting up the national war memorial in Canberra. When I read T’s great uncle’s service record, it had map co-ordinates for where he was buried the day he died. He was later dug up and re-buried in a war cemetery.
It must be very strange for Australian and New Zealand troops to fight foreign wars because of our colonial ties.
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It’s really a great film and beautifully directed – I love it when actors try to do the directing themselves, almost always makes for really good films.
I love watching historical documentaries, one always learns so much about the past. It’s been a pleasant surprise to me that this film also did this. Mostly it seems historic details are something not to worry too much about which always leaves me grinding my teeth. 😉
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That certainly captures the moment Su.
Leslie
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Solem but peaceful and an almost spiritual looking moment. Amanda
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It was incredibly moving. The main ANZAC service was held elsewhere because the church is closed after the 2011 earthquake, so apart from the soldier at the memorial, T and I were pretty much the only people at that spot.
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Yes I can see how it would be so moving.
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