A FAMILY’S SACRIFICE
LOSSES IN GREAT WAR
EIGHT BROTHERS KILLED
The cross of sacrifice was given even deeper significance at Auckland’s Cenotaph on Saturday when it provided an Armistice Day tribute by a sister to the memory of her eight brothers who were killed or who died of wounds in the Great War. Made of red and white carnations, the cross carried a card on which was written: —“In hallowed memory of all who gave their lives for our Empire, including 41 relations, eight brothers, five in action, three of wounds, all from England, 191418.”
There was no signature on the card, but just the word “Sister.” Who it was who thus paid tribute to her own and the Empire dead, none of those who conducted the ceremony are aware. Some did notice in the file of people who deposited wreaths, a woman with a cross of flowers, but the significance of her offering was not appreciated until after she and the crowd had gone and the cards on the flowers were being read.
A thought to which expression was given at that moment was that there was something more than fine in a tribute which remembered the general loss before the private but proud grief in such a heavy family sacrifice
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/GISH19391114.2.89
Bibliographic details
Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20094, 14 November 1939, Page 8
Word Count
212A FAMILY’S SACRIFICE Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20094, 14 November 1939, Page 8
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