Tens of thousands of New Zealanders this morning stand in silence, paying their respects to Kiwis who died in battle during the Gallipoli landings more than 100 years ago. They also honour those who died in New Zealand's other military engagements.
The Gallipoli facts are well known for most. For eight long months, New Zealand troops, alongside those from Australia, Great Britain and Ireland, France, India, and Newfoundland battled harsh conditions and Ottoman forces desperately fighting to protect their Turkish homeland.
By the time the campaign ended, more than 130,000 men had died: at least 87,000 Ottoman soldiers and 44,000 Allied soldiers, including more than 8700 Australians. Among the dead were 2779 New Zealanders, about a sixth of all those who had landed on the peninsula.
In the wider story of World War 1, the Gallipoli campaign made no large mark. The number of dead, although horrific, pales in comparison with the death toll in France and Belgium during the war. For New Zealand, along with Australia and Turkey, the Gallipoli campaign is often claimed to have played an important part in fostering a sense of national identity.
Anzac Day grew out of this pride. First observed on April 25, 1916, the date of the landing has become a crucial part of the fabric of national life - a time for remembering not only those who died at Gallipoli, but all New Zealanders who have served their country in times of war and peace.
The troops went off on what was described as an adventure. Letters from young men to their families at first described their lives as including some of the best fun they had experienced.
Sadly, the tone of the letters became more sombre and families were soon receiving messages from their sons saying how much they loved them and passing on best wishes to their friends left behind.
It was not only New Zealand's young men who went to war at the behest of the British Empire.
Often overlooked are the nurses who volunteered for active service during WW1. They do not feature prominently in accounts of that bloody and tragic war.
If it were not for their dedication, care and sacrifice, the casualty rate would have been much higher.
On board hospital ships off Gallipoli, inundated by hundreds of wounded men or in the spartan and dangerous casualty clearing stations of the Western Front, Anzac nurses worked in extraordinary conditions to save lives.
The republication of a book by former Dunedin man Alexander Aitken this year is timely. Mr Aitken is described as an ordinary soldier with an extraordinary mind. He began to write about his experiences in 1917 as a wounded out-patient in Dunedin Hospital. Every few years, when the war trauma caught up with him, he revisited the manuscript, which was eventually published as Gallipoli to the Somme in 1963. Mr Aitken's prodigious memory ensured everything he saw he remembered. He could never forget the horrors of war. No one should ever forget the sacrifices made by those serving their country.
Around the world today, descendants of Anzacs will gather, along with those determined to not let the memories fade of those killed in action or those injured physically or mentally by what they endured.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.
