Minister for Veterans Affairs Meka Whaitiri will be in attendance at the Dawn service on the Gallipoli Peninsula representing the New Zealand Government in its return to ANZAC commemorations.

Minister Whaitiri is joined by Australian and New Zealand Defence Force personnel to remember and reflect on the legacy that was created by those who landed at Gallipoli and fought on behalf of our two nations and for our values, during the First World War.

“Amid New Zealand’s reconnection with the world, New Zealanders across our proud nation and the globe will gather at dawn to commemorate Anzac Day,” Meka Whaitiri said.

“We will stop for a minute’s silence to once again repeat those formidable words, Ka maumahara tonu tātou ki a rātou, we will remember them.

“At the heart of the ANZAC service is an Act of Remembrance. We hear the moving words of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, President of Turkey from 1923-38, which are inscribed on the memorial at ANZAC Cove in the Dardanelles:

Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives… you are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us, where they lie side by side here in this country of ours… You, the mothers, who sent their sons from far away countries wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.

“On Anzac Day we honour our service personnel and our veterans. We pay tribute to the sacrifices of those who came before us and share in the warmth of peace and freedom.

Ka maumahara tonu tātou ki a rātou, we will remember them.

© Scoop Media