HUTT VALLEY

Evening Post, Issue 98, 27 April 1936, Page 15

HUTT VALLEY

UNITED SERVICE

THE SPIRIT OF SACRIFICE

Prior to the united service at Lower Hutt, services were held at each of the primary schools. At the Central School the address was given by the Rev. H. E. K. Fry, and at Eastern Hutt. by the Rev. Harold T. Peat, both of whom served in the' Great War.

The Lower Hutt united service commenced with a parade of the local branch of the R.S.A., the 17th Howitzer Battery, and C Company Wellington Regiment, Legion of Frontiersmen, High School Cadets,. Boy Scouts, Girl Guides, and Boys' Brigade. The parade marched from the Central School to the Recreation Ground grandstand, led by the Lower Hutt Municipal arid the Civic Bands, playing'alternate marches.

In . spite of the overcast sky and occasional showers, the grandstand was filled for the service. The following' ministers took part in the service:—The Revs. H. E. K. Fry, J. Gilkinson, Thomson Macky, G. R. Sterling, Harold T. Peat, and Hayes Lloyd, and Captain C. H. Morley (Salvation Army). The address was given by the Rev. J. E. Lopdell.

Among those present were Mr. J. W. Andrews (Mayor), who handed over the service to the ministers; Mrs. Andrews, the Hon. Walter Nash, M.P., and representatives from all the local bodies, sports bodies, and other local

t organisations, and- 'the- Hutt Valley V.M.C.A. . - ■ DAY OF REMEMBRANCE. f Mr. Lopdell said the day was not j one for extreme utterances for either . pacifism or militarism, which were j quite out of place. It was essentially a r day for remembrance, of the lives laid down in sacrifice for home and coun- ; try. Returned men had a great /re- ! luctance to speak of their experiences at the front] not only of the horrors' of battle but the grim monotony!, and awful tenseness of the trenches. The method of keeping Anzac Day had been criticised as being unduly sad, but it was inevitable tha t t the element j of sadness should be present if we 1 wore to use the day as one of. remem- • brance and gather its lessons. We ought to remember the heroism,, the sacrifice of the men who gave their lives, and the sorrows of. those^. left behind—the young women who:twenty years ago gave their lovers and were now denied the rights of wife and motherhood. ■ ; . , t - The question was how to conserve what these men won, for, in spite of the travesty of the saying "a war to end war," we did win something, and the world today was saved from the horrors of war by a memory; of .the awfulness of the past ,war> .- /Looking back on the past men saw, as- Mr. Baldwin had said, that another war would be the end of civilisation, and so were held back. Another gain of the war had been a clearer view of Jesus Christ—men at the front/had, not wanted to know what denomination' a man . belonged to, but whether he exhibited the spirit of : Jesus Christ; so Christ had been stripped of the implications which had gathered round His name, and the Man was seen more clearly. The liberty and freedom of the Church had been saved.' When we witnessed today the Church crushed and martyred in Germany we should be thankful that we had saved our freedom. A service such as the one being held would have been impossible had we not been victorious. Mr. Lopdell closed with an appeal to the boys and girls to enter upon the very difficult task of the future in the spirit of heroism of the men .of Anzac, to enrol themselves in the ranks of Jesus Christ and to face the days to come in the spirit of sacrifice. The remainder of the ceremony was held at the Cenotaph, where all the units again paraded and Gunner C. Clarke sounded "The Last Post" and "Reveille." .■•■-.:. Wreaths were laid on. the Cenotaph by the R.S.A. (Colonel Butcher and Major Taylor), the Lower Hutt Borough Council (Mrs. J. W. Andrews), the Legion of Frontiersmen, High School boys and girls, the Girl Guides, the churches, the Hutt Valley V.M.C.A,, the primary schools and other organisations, and , private mourners. . . . ".. . ; • At the march past the salute was taken by Colonel C. E. Butcher. .