Rt Hon Helen Clark - Speech at ANZAC Day Commemorative Service
Sunday, 26 April 2009, 10.30 am.
ANZAC Garden, Rockfeller Centre, New York.
Embargoed until 2.30 am Monday 27 April, New Zealand time.

E ki ana nga tupuna
Ko nga mea nui
Te whakapono, te tumanako
Me te aroha

Your Excellencies, distinguished representatives of the United Nations and the Diplomatic and Consular Corps, Ladies and Gentlemen.

We gather here today to pay tribute to those how have served our countries in times of war, to those who gave their lives, to those who were wounded – and to those who returned home, many carrying with them for life the trauma of what they had experienced.

ANZAC Day commemorates the landings of Australian, British, French, Indian, and New Zealand forces on the Gallipoli Peninsula 94 years ago. It is also the day on which we honour the courage of all New Zealand and Australian service men and women deployed overseas since that time.

Yesterday, here and throughout New Zealand, and Australia, at Gallipoli and in other places around the world, New Zealanders and Australians gathered to commemorate ANZAC Day.

Today we stand in awe at the courage of our forebears – at Gallipoli, on the Somme, at Passchendaele, and in Palestine; before that in South Africa – and for Australia in Sudan; in World War Two in Europe, the Middle East, and the Pacific; in Malaya; in Vietnam; and in many other deployments since that time.

It matters not on a day like this what our opinions were on one deployment or another.

Today we recognize courage, endeavour, mateship, service, and sacrifice, and we honour all who answered their nation’s call to serve.

Like many here I have traced for myself the footsteps of forebears caught up in these epic events.

This January in frozen Flanders I contemplated how our people could possibly have endured those dreadful winters, and the courage it took to advance against entrenched positions over relatively low-lying ground. The Ypres Salient is truly a sacred place for all nations who fought there.

I recall the small cemetery at Marcoing in the north of France where one of my great uncles is buried, and then going to the site on the Hindenburg Line nearby, where he was killed.

Gallipoli, however, has a special place in New Zealand and Australian, hearts as our first engagement in World War One, as a military disaster which touched families and communities throughout our lands, and for the generosity of spirit long shown by Turkey towards the ANZACs, their families and their descendants. In acknowledging our own citizens today, we also pay our respect to the soldiers of Turkey who fought so bravely for their country.

It is humbling indeed to view the small beach at ANZAC Cove; to contemplate the landing, the assault on the cliff face beyond, and the ascent – all under fire; and to reflect on what it was like to dig in on the ridge with the opposing front line only a few metres away.

We reflect then on the deadly stalemate, with both sides vulnerable to sniper fire, the heat of summer, and the disease and illness our people suffered.

Two particular attempts to break out are of special significance to New Zealanders.

There was the extraordinary capture of Chunuk Bair on on 8 August 1915 – the most forward point reached in the entire campaign.

The ridge there was held for two days, but with no back-up and supplies, the few survivors retreated. Colonel Malone, and ninety per cent of the men of the Wellington Infantry Battalion he led, perished in the battle.

Less than two weeks later New Zealanders made their last attempt to break through Turkish lines at Hill 60. When we view it today, there is no hill – only a gentle rise. Another of my great uncles wrote from Hill 60 on August 21 that: “There are stray bullets flying everywhere and one stands a chance of ‘stopping one’ at any time. Our sergeant was standing in our trench yesterday and he got one in the right breast”.

He wrote further: “The big guns from land and sea make an awful row and this is accompanied always with machine guns and rifle fire. We can hear the shells screaming overhead and shrapnel bursting all day long”. Uncle Frank died seven days later.

Every family whose loved ones went away, has these stories – devastating human stories.

In commemorating ANZAC Day as our national day of remembrance, we ensure that we never forget the loss of life, the tremendous suffering, the grief of the families at home, the children and young people who grew up without fathers, brothers, and uncles, the many widowed, and the impact of so many fallen on our communities and nations.

It is often said that our people went away as colonial soldiers in the service of the empire, and that those who returned came home as New Zealanders and Australians. The heavy price our peoples paid left a legacy which helps define our independent nations today – and built deep bonds between New Zealanders and Australians.

Today, in the Solomon Islands and Timor Leste, our people serve alongside each other. In Afghanistan we have both deployed substantial numbers of personnel. Many others serve elsewhere in a range of capacities – for New Zealand, as peacekeepers. None of these 21st century deployments is without risk, and personnel from our nations have suffered fatalities and serious injury this century. Today we remember them and their families too, and all those serving offshore at this time, as we remember all those who have served since our nations first deployed personnel overseas.

ANZAC Day is a day for reflection and remembrance. It is also a day for committing ourselves to working for a world where differences between nations can be resolved without resort to war. In this way we can best honour and pay tribute to the fallen and to those who have served.

ENDS

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