ANZAC Service

The Prime Minister arrives for the New Zealand
                       service at 's Graventafel
The official ANZAC Commemorative Service for those who lost their lives at Passchendaele was held on a misty morning of October 4, shortly after a New Zealand Service had taken place at 's Graventafel New Zealand Memorial.

The Australian Governor General, H.E. Major General Michael Jeffery, the New Zealand Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon Helen Clark, and the Flemish Minister Mr Geert Bourgeois, addressed those present prior to the laying of wreaths by representatives of a number of countries and the public.

During her address, Helen Clark said that Passchendaele was a byword for disaster. "Our soldiers were bombarded by their own guns on the start line. The planned artillery barrage failed to provide the necessary support. Uncut wire barred the way forward. Enemy machine gunners cut a swathe through our ranks."

But it was also a byword for courage in adversity. "It speaks of people bravely doing their duty as their comrades around them were being cut down, of desperate efforts to advance under a merciless hail of machinegun bullets, of stretcher bearers struggling to extricate the wounded lying in the quagmire."

During the service, the Australian flautist Wendy Quinlan played a composition of Australian folk songs she had titled "Diggers' Salute" and the New Zealand soprano Hayley Westenra sang the hymn "Abide with Me".

Invited guests at the service included H.R.H Archduke Carl-Christian of Austria, Corporal Willie Apiata VC and a group of 10 New Zealand veterans who have travelled to Belgium for the Commemorations with Veterans' Affairs.

The service was followed in the afternoon by a reburial service at Buttes Military Cemetery, Polygon Wood, for five Australian soldiers whose remains were found during road works last year.

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