Remembrance Day speech at St Mathews in the City
Last Friday we commemorated the 93rd anniversary of the Armistice between the combatant powers which ended the Great War of 1914 -1918. The Armistice brought an end to the fighting – though the consequences of the Great War and the events it set in train once unleashed could never be stopped.
Eight million soldiers died in the Great War, 20 million more were wounded, mutilated, made amputees, blinded from gas attacks, became emotionally damaged or mentally deranged. Millions of civilians also died. In its wake long standing empires and royal houses vanished. Old countries disappeared and new countries emerged. From its ruins emerged extremist ideologies of
hatred and racism. The consequences of the First World War would lead inexorably to the Second.
The Great War has had a profound and ongoing influence on the course of modern history right up until the present day.
In attempting to trace the major political events of the mid to late 20th century the American cold war geostrategist Dr George Kennan once wrote: ‘All lines of inquiry lead back to World War One’.
Kennan believed that for various reasons World War One was (quote) ‘the original catastrophe’. He was supported in that conclusion by the war historian Jacques Barsun who called the Great War ‘the blow that hurled the modern world on its course of self-destruction.’
The Great War also had a calamitous impact on New Zealand.
New Zealand sent more men to fight per head of population than any other nation.
Out of a population of just under one million people, some 18,000 New Zealanders were killed in the conflict and 41,000 wounded.
New Zealand’s casualty rate in proportion to population was the highest in the British Imperial armies.
Grief was visited onto thousands of New Zealand homes, mothers lost their sons, siblings lost their brothers, wives became widows, children became orphans. The hopes for marriage, family life and children for thousands of young New Zealand women were ruined because so many young men never returned. The social fabric of the country itself was weakened by the loss of some of our best and most courageous young men – one wonders how many scholars, scientists, industrialists, achievers, potential leaders? How many great New Zealanders of the 20th century were lost in the slaughter?
Nearly all of our dead were buried overseas. More than five thousand New Zealand soldiers – nearly a third of all those killed – have no known grave.
That is why after the Great War New Zealand became a land of war memorials.
As Michael King wrote: In cities, towns and country villages the war memorials went up. Scarcely a surname was not represented in the names engraved; some represented a family’s entire crop of young manhood. As one writer has commented, ‘the next generation did not need to be told that the angel of death had passed over the land: they heard the beating of its wings’
Our war memorials and commemoration services such as this have two main functions.
They honour the sacrifice of the fallen and they also recognise the collective suffering of the nation.
It is often said that New Zealand’s national identify was forged by the great sacrifices of World War One. While it is vital we New Zealanders take time to reflect on the meaning of our national identity and our nation – its past and even more importantly its future, here today, perhaps it is enough that we recognise the individual suffering and sacrifices made by those thousands of young New Zealanders more than 90 years ago.
As the years pass on, in all solemnity and reverence let us renew our pledge to continue to gather to remember them.
Siku ya kumbukumbu ya vita ya 1914-1918 ilifanyika katika St. Matthews, New York, Marekani, siku ya Ijumaa ya mwisho ya mwaka wa vita, na ilifanyika kwa kuadhimisha miaka 93 tangu makubaliano ya kusitisha mapigano kati ya mataifa yaliyopigana vita vya pili vya dunia. Mkataba wa kusitisha vita ulimaliza mapigano <unk> ingawa matokeo ya Vita Kuu na matukio ambayo yalianzisha mara moja yalipoanza hayangeweza kusimamishwa. Wanajeshi milioni nane waliuawa katika Vita Kuu ya Dunia, milioni 20 zaidi walijeruhiwa, kuharibika viungo, kuharibiwa viungo, kupofushwa macho na gesi, kuharibiwa kihisia au kuharibika kiakili. Mamilioni ya raia pia walikufa. Baada ya hapo, milki na nyumba za kifalme zilizokuwapo kwa muda mrefu zilitoweka. Nchi za zamani zilitoweka na nchi mpya zikaibuka. Kutoka kwenye magofu yake, itikadi kali za chuki na ubaguzi wa rangi zilitokea. Matokeo ya Vita vya Kwanza vya Ulimwengu yangesababisha Vita vya Pili vya Ulimwengu. Vita Kuu ya Ulimwengu ya Kwanza ya Ulimwengu imeathiri sana historia ya ulimwengu hadi leo. "Katika jaribio la kufuatilia matukio makubwa ya kisiasa ya katikati hadi mwishoni mwa karne ya 20, mtaalamu wa vita baridi wa Marekani George Kennan aliandika: ""Mishale yote ya uchunguzi inaongoza nyuma hadi Vita Kuu ya Kwanza ya Dunia.""" Kennan aliamini kwamba kwa sababu mbalimbali Vita vya Kwanza vya Ulimwengu vilikuwa (maneno) "mshtuko wa awali". "Mwandishi wa historia ya vita Jacques Barzun aliandika hivi: ""Vita Kuu ya Dunia ilisababisha uharibifu mkubwa wa ulimwengu wa kisasa." New Zealand ilituma wanaume wengi zaidi kupigana kwa kila mtu kuliko taifa lingine lolote. Kati ya watu milioni moja, watu 18,000 waliuawa na wengine 41,000 kujeruhiwa. Kiwango cha majeruhi wa New Zealand kulingana na idadi ya watu kilikuwa cha juu zaidi katika majeshi ya Milki ya Uingereza. Maumivu yaliingia katika maelfu ya nyumba za New Zealand, akina mama walipoteza wana wao, ndugu walipoteza ndugu zao, wake wakawa wajane, watoto wakawa yatima. Matumaini ya ndoa, maisha ya familia na watoto kwa maelfu ya wanawake vijana wa New Zealand yaliharibiwa kwa sababu vijana wengi hawakuwahi kurudi. Muundo wa kijamii wa nchi yenyewe ulidhoofishwa na hasara ya baadhi ya vijana wetu bora na wenye ujasiri zaidi - mtu anajiuliza ni wangapi wasomi, wanasayansi, wafanya biashara, wenye mafanikio, viongozi wa uwezekano? Ni watu wangapi wa New Zealand waliopotea katika mauaji hayo? Karibu wafu wetu wote walizikwa nje ya nchi. Zaidi ya askari elfu tano wa New Zealand - karibu thuluthi moja ya wale wote waliouawa - hawana kaburi linalojulikana. Hiyo ndiyo sababu baada ya Vita Kuu ya Ulimwengu New Zealand ikawa nchi ya makaburi ya ukumbusho ya vita. "Mwanamume mmoja aliyeitwa Michael King aliandika hivi: ""Miji, vijiji, na vijiji vya mashambani vilijengwa makaburi ya ukumbusho wa vita." Ni vigumu jina la familia lisilowakilishwa katika majina yaliyochongwa; baadhi yaliwakilisha mazao yote ya familia ya ujana. "Mwandishi mmoja alisema: ""Kizazi kijacho hakikuhitaji kuambiwa kwamba malaika wa kifo alikuwa amepita juu ya nchi: walisikia kupiga kwa mabawa yake."" - 1 Wakorintho 8:21, 22." Wanaheshimu dhabihu ya waliokufa na pia wanatambua mateso ya pamoja ya taifa. Mara nyingi inasemekana kwamba utambulisho wa kitaifa wa New Zealand ulibuniwa na dhabihu kubwa za Vita vya Kwanza vya Ulimwengu. """Watu wa New Zealand tunahitaji kuchukua muda wa kutafakari maana ya utambulisho wetu wa kitaifa na taifa letu, wakati wake uliopita na muhimu zaidi, siku zijazo, hapa leo, labda ni vya kutosha kutambua mateso ya mtu binafsi na dhabihu zilizofanywa na maelfu ya vijana wa New Zealand zaidi ya miaka 90 iliyopita." "Wakati miaka inapita, kwa heshima na heshima, hebu tufanye upya ahadi yetu ya kuendelea kukusanyika ili kuwakumbuka."""