“LEST WE FORGET.”

Waipa Post, Volume XXI, Issue 1280, 12 August 1922, Page 5

“LEST WE FORGET.”

TE AWAMUTU WAR MEMORIAL.

DESIGN OF MONUMENT.

Just eight years have elapsed since the clarion cry of “ To anus ! ” resounded throughout the length and breadth of the Empire, and 'though “the tumult and the .shouting die” Te Awamutu is not ungrateful in her remembrance of those who did their duty bravely, fearing God and honouring the King. There is strong exaltation as well as infinite pathos when we look toa'ck. If it is still unalterably sad to think of the 'long tale of loss and suffering and sorrow occasioned by the Great War, there is glory and grace and gladness in remembrance of the heroic deeds of those who went forth to perform tasks needing courage, energy, and patience. It was indeed the embattled hosts of Allied freemen who saved civilisation from the menace of a monstrous tyranny, and toy so doing made all mankind their debtor. Here in Upper Waikato we continue to enjoy our liberties and freedom Chiefly through the sacrifice of “ our boys 'in khaki.” What more fitting tribute, then, can we pay than erect a monument to the memory of those who “ went West?” Te Awamutu’s effort to commemorate her dead heroes will be on a scale worthy of the sacrifice made, the importance of the event it marks, and the .solemnity of the occasion it is proposed to perpetuate.

The design adopted by the War Memorial iOom.mitttee on Thursday night provides for of solid granite ten feet square, rising by a .step to seven feet square, and rising again another step to five feet square, on which the monument will toe erected. This granite will be’ rough axed-faced, and will toe obtained from .Coromandel. The monument itself comprises six pieces of granite of a total height of ten feet three 'inches. The faces will be axed or polished as desired, and the slabs whereon the names will be inscribed in raised letters will be of polished granite. The only other inscription on the monument will be, “ In memory of those who 'fell in the Great War, ,1914-1918.” Surmounting the monument 'itself'will toe a figure typical of a New Zealand soldier in full uniform, standing at ease. It Will be of Italian marble. The outline shows a splendid monument, which should have a magnificent appearance when* complete. The contract provides for the monument being ready for unveiling next Anzac Day (26th April, 1923), and the committee has invited His Excellency Lord Jellicoe to perform the ceremony.