Focus on the Western Front

We are now nearing the halfway point of New Zealand's World War 1 centenary commemorations, and each year holds its own significance.

In 2014, events reflected on the war's beginnings.

The theme for those commemorations was "Duty and adventure''.

At that stage, 100 years ago, the war was seen as a noble pursuit, about glory and God and service to King and country.

It was also viewed as an exciting opportunity for many of the young men who signed up, offering travel, adventure and camaraderie.

Many expected the conflict would be "over by Christmas''.

How wrong they would be. Events in 2014 marked the anniversaries of the departure dates of New Zealand troops, and set the stage for the major commemorations to come.

Last year's observances, under the theme "The Anzac Connection'', focused on the centenary of the disastrous Gallipoli campaign, often described - rightly and wrongly - as this nation's "coming of age''.

More than 2700 New Zealanders were killed and 7500 injured there, where the full horrors of the war became apparent.

(Recent research has changed the picture somewhat, showing the number of New Zealand soldiers serving at Gallipoli was nearly twice that officially quoted, and likely numbered about 16,000. This adds another dimension in terms of the scale of our service, but has also brought what long seemed an extreme percentage of New Zealanders killed to something more in line with Australia's losses.)

The Gallipoli campaign left an immediate mark on a shellshocked nation.

It seems incredible that, only a year afterwards, the first "Anzac Day'' was held.

This year then marks the centenary of what many have come to regard as our national day, a day which celebrates pride and unity, where Australians and New Zealanders come together, at various ceremonies at home and abroad, to reflect and to remember the fallen from the Gallipoli offensive - and the many other campaigns and conflicts since.

The theme for this year's commemoration is "Transition: a national war effort'', marking the retreat of the New Zealand force from Gallipoli to Egypt and the move to Europe.

Two and a-half years of fighting on the Western Front would claim the lives of almost five times as many New Zealand soldiers as had died on the Turkish peninsula.

The major commemoration this year is of the 1916 Somme offensive.

Our soldiers were not involved until the second wave, joining the fray on September 15.

But, by the end of the campaign in November, more than 1500 New Zealanders had been killed and more than 7000 injured.

Highlighting the war effort at home, which was in full swing, is also a feature of this year's observances.

The Government's WW100 project, organised largely through the Ministry of Culture and Heritage, has brought the war and its legacy back into the spotlight, and provided many ways for schools and communities to become involved in the commemorations.

It is important children are aware of the past, and can heed its lessons, for they will determine the future.

And it is not hard to see why communities have embraced the centenary events. Almost 10% of our then population of 1.1 million served overseas during WW1.

More than 18,000 died and more than 40,000 were hospitalised.

Nearly every New Zealand family was directly affected by the war.

The visible scars of that loss are the names etched in the hundreds of memorials, which are often most striking in some of our smallest communities.

The fields of white crosses - a feature of the centenary commemorations to mark our major battles - have also been a powerful and poignant visual reminder of the scale of the loss.

The time and thought that has gone into the commemorations, and the increasing numbers of those at Anzac Day dawn services for the fallen, show we do still remember them.

As we should.

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