DAWN PARADE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 69, 23 March 1939, Page 9

DAWN PARADE

WANGANUI RETURNED SOLDIERS PRACTICE OF PAST YEARS TO BE OBSERVED A Dawn Parade is to take place in 1 Wanganui on Anzac Day and will be attended by returned soldiers. Wanganui was the first centre in the Do-; minion to make a parade at dawn a feature of the Anzac Day observances. Last year the ceremony at dawn in Sydney, attended by men of the Australian Imperial Forces and the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, was one of the most impressive post-war parades ever held. A Press Association message from Auckland, received yesterday, statedl that the Anzac dawn ceremony of re-1' membrance, which ex-soldiers who were in Sydney last year stated was the most impressive function they ’ had ever attended will be the' principal of the Anzac ceremonies in ' Auckland this year. The ceremony has been arranged:: by the Australian Imperial Force ex- ; Servicemen’s Association with the ,; co-operation of the Auckland Returned Soldiers’ Association and will be held at the Cenotaph in the Domain. ' The Governor-General, Viscount Galway, will lead the parade and will recite the Anzac dedication. The . Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage. 1 has also promised to attend. j It has been the practice of returned soldiers in Wanganui to assemble at the Drill Hall on Anzac Day each year, and march to the War Memorial in Queen's Park. There the “Last. Post" has beer, sounded and, in a spirit of remembrance, the parade has stood to attention to await the coming of the dawn.