Air Marshal Sir Bruce Ferguson KNZM, OBE, AFC, spoke at Tawa Rotary on 28 September 2021 on the return of our unknown warrior to New Zealand. Then Prime Minister the Rt Hon Helen Clark asked Sir Bruce as Chief of Defence Staff to take charge of a significant mission to find and bring home one of our New Zealand soldiers who had fought in World War 1. His story was very moving and gave us an indepth understanding of the journey. On Armistice Day (11 November) 2004 the body of an unidentified New Zealand soldier was laid to rest in a tomb in front of the National War Memorial in Wellington. He had been one of some 9,000 New Zealand soldiers who were buried in unknown graves overseas. His body had been excavated from Caterpillar Valley Cemetery on the Somme (in northern France) and brought to Wellington. After an all-night vigil at Parliament, the Unknown Warrior was given a full military procession through the streets of Wellington before an estimated crowd of 100,000. The body was then interred in a tomb designed by New Zealand artist Kingsley Baird, which featured greenstone crosses representing the Southern Cross. [ https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/34145/the-unknown-warrior] Joining with us to Sir Bruce at the Tawa Rotary meeting were Inner Wheel Tawa, Tawa Lions, Tawa RSA, honorary Rotarians, and Rotarians' partners. A real pleasure to see all. |