We also have Remembrance Day in our far distant islands of New Zealand. Poppy wreaths have appeared at the war memorials even in this small town where I live. However, Anzac Day is the major day of remembrance for soldiers from Australia and New Zealand. It is a national holiday and there are services throughout the country at dawn.
I shall never forget my visit to Waiouru in the North Island. It is New Zealand's major army base , but also the Memorial Museum. As you enter fully, there is a room with Koimata Pounamu – tears on greenstone (jade). It is a heartbreaking tribute symbolising both cleansing and mourning. A firm but quiet voice continuously reads out the names, ranks and sites of death of more than 33,000 Kiwis who died in the Boer Wars, World Wars and Vietnam War – and probably now other wars, such as Afghanistan. The young ages and numbers of those who perished in Gallipoli reduced me to heaving sobs.