ANZAC Day 2018

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Today is ANZAC day, a day to remember those New Zealand and Australia men and women who served in our armed forces and were wounded or killed in war. To my mind ANZAC day is a day of solemn reflection and a chance to pay tribute to the sacrifices made by those who went before us and to remember the terrible impact war has had on families and communities all across the country, and indeed the world.

Both my grandfathers fought in World War One. One an engineer on a minesweeper in the Royal Navy, seeking out and patrolling against German U boats in the North Sea, the other served in the trenches in the Western Front. Both survived the war and both were still alive when I was young so to me World War One is still not a distant, black and white war seen in grainy footage on tv but a real conflict that had a real impact on my own family. It is for them that I attend Dawn Services, to thank them for their service to ensure that they, and the countless other young New Zealand and Australian servicemen and women, are not forgotten.

This morning was the first time that I’ve had the opportunity to attend an overseas service and also a combined Australian and New Zealand (a real ANZAC) Dawn Service. Here in Kiribati the service is held at Betio, site of the Battle of Tarawa where in three bloody days in November 1943 more than 6000 American Marines and Japanese soldiers, not to mention numerous press ganged Korean labourers, were killed in a blood bath on a tiny, tiny coral atoll. It is hard to reconcile the horrors of that battle with the peaceful tranquillity of a Kiribati dawn, yet there are reminders of the battle and Japanese occupation all over Betio.

Dawn ANZAC Day 2018
What made the service even more poignant was the fact that it was held at the memorial that commemorates the deaths of 22 Coastwatchers (14 Kiwis, 5 Aussies and 3 Brits) who were executed on 15th October 1942 by their Japanese captors following an air raid on the islands. These coast watchers were mostly civilians and many of those from New Zealand were volunteers from the New Zealand Postal Service. They had volunteered to stay and man their radio communications equipment and had been captured earlier in 1942. Their bodies have never been recovered and their story, and sacrifice, still remains largely unknown within New Zealand. Today on this far flung outpost of the Pacific a group of expats from around the world and local i-Kiribati gathered to remember, reflect and to ensure that the fallen from all conflicts are not forgotten.
The Betio Memorial

The Betio Memorial Reads:

In memory of the twenty two British subjects murdered by the Japanese at Betio on 15th October 1942.

Standing unarmed at their posts
They matched brutality with gallantry
And met death with fortitude

K G Morgan
B Cleary
IR Handley
AM McArthur
AL Sadd
AC Heenan
JJ McCarthy
HRC Hearn
AE Mckenna
AL Taylor
TC Murray
CA Pearsall
IB Speedy
CJ Owen
DH Howe
RJ Hitchon
R Jones
RA Ellis
CA Kilpin
JH Nichol
WAR Parker
RM McKenzie

Lest we forget.


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