ANZAC DAY.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 April 1922, Page 5

ANZAC DAY.

SEVEN YEARS AGO. HEROIC ASSAULT RECALLED. LANDING OF NEW ZEALANDERS. TO-MORROW’S ANNIVERSARY.

To-inorrow is Anzac Day, the seventh anniversary of the landing of the Australian and New Zealand Forces at Gallipoli, and throughout this Dominion the occasion will be a close holiday—a day sacred to the memory of New Zealand’s fallen. The New Zealanders landed on Gallipoli at 10 a.m. on the morning of April 25, 1915, transit from the ships to the shore being made by means of barges, and as the boats grounded the troops ran the risk of continuous fire from the Turks, who had concentrated their guns on the beach. “Up in the maze of gullies,” says the official historian, “our men were struggling with the Turks. As each company or platoon came ashore it was rushed up to the firing line. Casualties and the broken country made control very difficult, and up where the tide ebbed and flowed the natural leaders of men, whether they happened to be officers or privates, led their little groups to the attack or stood stubbornly at bay among the scrubclad hills.”

‘The sun went down and the ships stood over against Samothrace, silhouetted in the sunset. But with the night came no peace. The units were inextricably mixed •—Australian and New Zealand infantry clung doggedly to the hardly-won Crestline.” After the trials of the night the morning broke, "and the outer line was still intact.”

The weeks and months on Gallipoli resulted in the recording of many names which will ever remain familiar to New Zealanders—Shrapnel Gully, Quinn’s Post, Walker’s Ridge, The Daisy Patch, Plugge’s Plateau and C’ unuk Bair are amongst the number which denote particular spots where the Anzacs played such a heroic part in a campaign which called for the highest courage and determination. The origin of the word “Anzac” is old history, and as the name of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps was embodied in one symbol, so were the men from Australia and New Zealand one in spirit. "What seemed to me as one of the best features of our fighting at Gallipoli,” General Birdwood has remarked, "was the mutual confidence and esteem which it engendered between the New Zealand and the Australian Forces.”

After eight months’ struggle the evacuation came on December 20, the troops being got off without a casualty, and as the rearguard had many thoughts then for the comrades who would not return, so to-morrow the whole Dominion will honor the memory of the men of Anzac and all her soldiers who made the supreme sacrifice. COMMEMORATION SERVICE. The Anzac commemoration service at New Plymouth will take place at Pukekura Park, providing weather conditions permit. A parade of all returned soldiers, Maori and south African War Veterans, Legion of Frontiersmen, Territorials and Cadets, will march from the Post Office via Devon and Liardet Streets to Pukekura Park, where the ceremony of saluting the flag will take place, and a short religious service will be held.

In the event of the weather being too wet for an outdoor function the service will take place in the Coronation Hall. The order of the parade will be as follows:

Fourth Battalion Band. Firing party of 100 returned soldiers. Maori War Veterans (in motor-cars). South African. Veterans. Returned soldiers. Returned nurses and V.A.D.’s. Headquarters, A Company Territorials. Legion of Frontiersmen. No. 24, 110 Company Cadets (Boys’ High

School, with band). No. 89 Company (Technical College Ca-

dets). No. 90 Company Senior Cadets. Boy Scouts and Girl Guides Red Cross Society. Victoria League. Patriotic Committee. Repatriation Committee. Borough Council. Taranaki County Council. Taranaki Education Board. New Plymouth Harbor Board. New Plymouth Fire Board. Sports Ground Committee. Whr Memorial Committee.

Captain A. M. Mac Diarmid will be in charge of the parade, Lieut. L. W. Andrew, V.C., in charge of the firing party, and Sergeant G. E. Roper and Sergeant-Major Bell will be the marshals. The parade will form up in column in Devon Street in front of the Post Office, facing eastwards, the head of the column being opposite the entrance of the Post Office, at 10.15 a.m. Other units will fall in in the order given, and the parade will march off at 10.30. On arrival at the park the parade will inarch on to the playing area and past the saluting base, which will be placed on the eastern side of ground, Lieut.-Coloncl C. H. Weston, D. 5.0., taking the salute. After the march past the parade will be drawn up in square formation, facing a rostrum which will be close to the terraces on the eastern side of the grounds. An order-of-service has been prepared by the ministers of the various churches, who will participate in the ceremony. At the conclusion of the ceremony a salute will be fired by a party of returned men, and the "Last Post” will then be sounded and the proceedings will terminate with the singing of the National Anthem. The public are asked not to congregate on the playing area in the sports ground, on account of it having been just recently laid down. If the eastern terraces are

occupied to their fullest extent everyone will be able to get a good view of the parade, and hear also the service. An invitation has been extended by Mr. and Mrs. C. H. Burgess to returned men to be present at the Victoria League rooms in the afternoon, from 2.30 p.m., where they will be entertained to afternoon tea. Some musical items will be contributed during the afternoon.

MESSAGE FROM THE KING. Bj’ Telegraph.—Press Association Auckland, Last Night. The Governor-General has been commanded by the King to communicate to the people of New Zealand, on the occasion of Anzac Day, the following message from His Majesty: "On this solemn anniversary of Anzac Day, the Queen and I are proud to join in commemorating those who gave their lives at Gallipoli, and our hearts HQ out to all who mhuxn th«xa.” a