ANZAC MEMORIAL SERVICE.

Northern Advocate, 25 April 1921, Page 3

ANZAC MEMORIAL SERVICE.

IN TOWN 'HALL YESTERDAY

The Anzac menwial service convened by the -Mayor, Mr J. S- Dent, drew a very large gathering, which completely filled the Whangarei Town Ha.l yesterday afternoon, to pay their tribute of remembrance to the soldiers who gave their lives for their country in the several campaigns in which the New Zealand troops took' part between the landing at Gallipoli on April 25, 1915, and the with, drawal .of the troops from the Rhine after the achievement of victory.

A general parade of the various units of local defence forces took place at the Drill Hall, whence, head ed by the 15th North Auckland Regimental .Band, the troops marched to the Town Hall where they arrived shortly before the Mayor and minis-" ters. The men were over 230 strong,, comprising t-he 15th North Auckland, Regiment's Company and Band, the, % 56th Company Of Cadets and 100 -High 'School' Cadets, together j with members of the Defence staff J and officers, under command of Captain Dittmer, M.C., O.C. GroupThe soldiers filed into the hall and occupied seats reserved for them in the stalls immediately {behind Ithe nurses, of whom 35 attended in formOn the stage,, the Mayor presided and associated with him were the Revs. G- iC. Cruickshank, W- E. Lambert, G. W. Lochore, W.fi- Speer, W. Heather, Adjutant Glanville (Salvation Army), 'Col McCarroll, Major Frazerhuirst, Captain Dittmer and Messrs W. Jones and T. Ellis, while behind them were seated about forty members of Madame Edith Brainsby g Choir-

The stated that the citizens of Whangarei had again assembled to coHiniemorate the landing of New Zealand soldiers on. Gallipoli, and he declared.that to hi s mind that feat •was one of the most .brilliant episodes in the annals of 'warfare-. As the commemoration was taking the fprm of a religious service he refrained from speaking at greater length and left the conducting of the service to the ministers. The tßev. G. C. Cruickshank read as a lesson the 15th chapter of the Gospel of (St. John, the first thirteen verses, and he was followed by the (Rev. W. E. Lambert who. delivered a short prayer, concluding with the (Lord's Prayer, in which the congregation joined. The Rev. Lambert pre4*. faced the prayer with an expression of thankfulness that we could approach the Father with confidence, bnd that He had called the war to cease, giving the nation and the cause the victory which it was realised had been accomplished for us. Those *vho Had" served so well at the call of King" arid country were also re- • membered and the debt owed to them ■was realised ag also were the hardships which men and women had-suf-tfered overseas- It was also remem: bereft that there were many who went and had not returned} for there were vacant" chair s and familiar voices were missing in many homes. He iprayed God to comfort those who mourned, and. grant them the gracious law of submission so that they niight come to say "Thy Will fee done-" Thankful that the , men were "back, yet were the people mindy ful of the wounded an body and health them, for the succour *>f whom he prayed. He asked God to Mess the people to the end that they might prize the high privileges gained for them and realise what great benefits had been theirs, and • "Hive to the glory of their fellow-men. He prayed that the time might soon come when He- should comer to rule in righteousness. *... . ; .

At the conclusion. of the . singing of the hymn "Let .Saints on Earth in Concert Sing," the Rev- Lochore delivered an address which he prefaced by expressing the honour he felt at " foeing asked by the Mayor and ministers of the town to speak to the great audience on the sixth anniversary of the landing of troops at Gallipoli. The years, especially since the signing of the armistice, though they had been years of peace, hat set in clearer light the awful danger through which the Allied nations had passed. People should not forget that B7 nations, great and small, and differing widely in ; their national ideals, their moral standards and their religious aspirations, had ratified the Peace. They had all been united in their endeavours, and they

liad given assent to the existence.of a moral law and to the exercise of that | retributive justice without which no peace could be permanent- The_ people Of New Zealand were thankful ihat our own little, country had sent oyer 100,000 men to fight, in the sacred icause of the Allies, and because the service was an in memoriam one, let those present remember the noble band of 15,000 men, some of whom slept the long last sleep on that rugged peninsula of Gallipoli, some on the ancient batlefields of Palestine, some in the land of the pyramids and feorae an the fair fields of France and Belgium- It wa s with painfulness that those 15,000 men who left New Zealand and added lustre to our country and our nation were remembered but nothing the speaker could say could add to the imperishable glory „ they won for the country. But an ? in memoriam service was not the place for adulation, but to think of Cod's part rather than man's. Who

had overruled the wickedness and th destiny of Germany and the evil doc trine of force and had given victor to the weak? "We say that it wa God," said the speaker, "and we be lieve that the Lord God Ommpoten reign eth and that victory did no happen by chance." Therefore h urged his audience to consider thi word Victory, and to ask its prici and its meaning. The nation got it "place in the sun" by the price- A Gallipoli 855G of all ranks landed and 7449 were numbered casualties excluding sickness, so apparently onlj 1200 escaped without wounds whicl showed the price paid. John Buchan a prominent historian, had said thai from April 25 to May 31 the tota casualties on the Peninsula were 38,. 6-3-6, excluding the French. Of thai number 17122 were officers. It hac been said that carnparisons were odious, but the -Rev- Locho.re held thai che nation should try to realise wha' chose figureg meant. The total battle casualties in the three years' war in South Africa were 38,156, so that i in five weeks on Gallipoli the army i lost more than in the whole three ■ years in South Africa. The figures i quoted for -Gallipoli moreover , only : included the landing and two attacks :on Achi Baba. It had been estimated that the Turks lost 60,000 and those effecting the landing had struck a staggering blow at them- The speaker quoted the Greek historian who, hastening to set a crown of freedom on ancient Greece, had said of the gallant dead, "They lie pdsesssed of praise that grows not old." That would be equally true as the years rolled by of those who had died in' Freedom's cause in the Great War. But what, •he asked, was the inner meaning of the victory they had won for us. Victory did not happen by chance. It meant fulfilment of the moral law of God- A remarkable fact was that there was a nation and a group of nation s fighting for a certain definite principle, and they succeeded and triumphed, though unprepared for war, and their opponents had lost. Why was it so? It was not. that they were better prepared, neither Great Britain nor France were; neither was it that the enemies were cowards, because in common it had been shown that the several enemy nations in every field displayed courage of the highest order. All law§ of war showed the Germans and Austrians to have won the war in three months, but history showed that they lost ultimately. What then wag the cause of that victory?' The Rev. Lochore maintained forcibly that God gave the Allies the victory, because they were fighting for the principles upon which freedom, justice, faith and love were based; the basic principles of the moral law of God- It was not new that the strong should be defeated by the weak, because history was full of such victories, as also were the scriptures. Cu&tomis altered, creeds rose and fell, manners changed, but.the moral law was written on the tablets of eternity. The eternal truths and rights of things existed, fortunately, independent of thoughts and wishes, and neither man nor nation dare trifle with them. The foe had deliberately discaided the teachings of the moral law of God when they invaded Belgium and Serbia and trampled on the "scrap of paper," but at that moment the war was lost to them. Britain could be thankful that in that fateful hour she possessed a moral sense sufficiently strong to take up the challenge and that Sir Edward 'Grey had gone the whole way for the sake of a piece of paper and the moral law of GodHe had rightly interpreted the feeling of the people and his decision had given the Allies final victory. The Rev. Lochore quoted the achievements of submarines Ell and

El 4, commanded by Lt.JCommander s Boyne and Naysmith respectively. {The latter had dived under the mines in the Dardanelles, had sunk ships in the iSea of Marmora and had torpedoejd a troopship alongside the quay in Constantinople, and he declared that so long as Britain had sea dogs of his kind there was little cause to worry. He also referred to the exploits of Lt-iCommander Sanders, V.C., a New Zealander, and he had last week seen at the home of

Sanders' father dn Russell the coveted medal. Sanders was on a "fake ship" opposite the Irish coast and, when attacked by a submarine, t 0 allay suspicion he had sent a boat; filled by a panic party away from his ship which had been heavily shelled by the enemy in their efforts to sink her. He and his crew had stuck to their postg and at the signal had hoisted the White Ensign, dropped the disguise, and in half'a dozen chots had sunk the submarine. Amongst those saved had been the German commander, who had told Sanders that lie' was the bravest man he had ever known and had declared that he would te'.l the British Ad-

miralty himself, of his gallantry t uru | der the gruelling fire which the submarine had directed against the ship —and Sander s got the V-€. ' The speaker declared he could .go on and on, citing such instances of devotion to duty by gallant soldiers and sailors who had won for the nation a peerless heritage. What could we do, he asked in conclusion, but work and pray for the day to dawn— When all men's good shall be each man's rule, And universal peace be like a shaft of light acros s the land, And like a ia,ne of beams athwart the seaAll through the cycle of a golden year.

-Madame Edith Brainsby sang '"0 Rest in the Lord,"- after which a collection was taken up in aid of the Soldiers' Memorial Fund, the orchestra meanwhile playing a selection.

The congregation sang the hymn "God of Our 'Fathers,' at the conclusion of which Mr A- Dobson sounded the Last Post, the audience standing in perfect silence throughout the playing of the call which raises so many reverent memories in the mind of those who have heard it on active service, and those to whom it recalls the impressiveness of the last rifes to those who have made the greatest sacrifice for their King, their country and their hearths. j

The /'Last Post' was the most solemnly impori-ng feature of the service and it ws l ; followed by a prayer and benediction offered by the Rev. W. H. Specr, the prayer being in the following terms:— 0 Lord our God, Who art in every place, from Whom no space or distance can ever separate us, we know that those who are absent from one another are present with Thee; and we therefore pray Thee to have in Thy holy keeping those dear ones from whom we are now separated and j for whom cach one of u s here now would pray; and grant that both they and we by drawing closer unto Thee may be drawing closer to each other, bound together by the unseen chain of Thy love in the communion of Thy Spirit and the holy fellowship of Thy saints- That whether, or not, as seemeth best to Thy Divine Majesty, we meet again on earth, we may at length meet at the resurrection of the just, and go on together to that home of many mansions which Thou has prepared for them that unfeign-' edly love Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord.—Amen.

The service concluded with one verse of the National Anthem, after which the congregation dispersed, the military units reforming in Bank iStreet and marching back to the Drill 'Hall for dismissal-