Commemoration Events:
11.00 am Monday 12th October 2015
The Passchendaele Society Board cordially invite all members to attend our annual commemoration to be held at 11am on Monday 12th October inside the Auckland War Memorial Museum.
The New Zealand Division’s involvement in the push towards the village of Passchendaele resulted in our worst day in Military history recorded on 12th October 1917 when we lost 846 of our boys on Bellevue Spur on just one day!
Please come along and be seated by 10.40am in the WW1 Hall of Memories at the top of the stairs on level two (lifts are available). Please note that seating is limited due to space constraints. The guest speaker this year will be Brigadier Jon Broadley MBE, Director General Reserve Forces & Youth Development. Many military, consular and civic dignitaries have been invited and will be laying wreaths. Medals may be worn and the public are invited to lay wreaths and/or poppies after the dignitaries.
The Royal New Zealand Navy Band will be playing from 10.35am and the choir this year is again the Auckland Choral. The Veterans’ Affairs ‘Why Should We Remember Passchendaele?’ competition winner will also be announced and presented with their prize by the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs Hon. Craig Foss.
The Passchendaele Society, with the cooperation of the Field of Remembrance Trust, has installed a field of 846 named crosses in Auckland Domain in front of the Auckland War Memorial Museum during the month of October in memory of all that died during the Passchendaele Offensive.
