In a serendipitous echo of scaled-back observances on the Gallipoli Peninsula, New Zealand's national Anzac Day commemoration was also curtailed today.
Gusts of over 100km/h in Wellington closed the service to the public, forcing the event inside the Pukeahu National War Memorial's Hall of Memories, allowing space for only some dignitaries and officials.
While high winds scotched plans in the Kiwi capital, a world away in Turkey, New Zealand's travelling defence contingent were forced into a rethink of plans due to lost luggage.
However, the 40-strong group were forced into a clothes-swap and to ditch plans to perform music when several bags didn't make it to Turkey after a transit through flood-hit Dubai.
"With a bit of swapping and resizing we have got there."
Anzac Day originally commemorated a battle on the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey during World War 1. At dawn on April 25 in 1915, thousands of troops from the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps were among a larger Allied force that landed on the narrow beaches of the Gallipoli peninsula, an ill-fated campaign that would claim more than 130,000 lives.
Today, Anzac Day, a public holiday, honours all Australian and New Zealand troops from all conflicts.
In Turkey, the NZ Defence Force had events at Anzac Cove and nearby Chunuk Bair today, where more than 1000 Kiwi soldiers died over three days in 1915.
A slice of Anzac spirit helped along proceedings, with the Australian Defence Force loaning a bugle for Last Post.
"It has been a case of coming up with solutions to each problem and the contingent have done this really well collectively," Mr McLeod said.
"Morale is high and we have a very positive attitude towards making the commemorations a fitting tribute to those who have walked this ground before us."
Members of the public - and many invited guests including diplomats and councillors - were unable to attend New Zealand's national commemoration due to capacity constraints.
One who made it inside was the chief of Australia's defence force, Angus Campbell, who chose to spend the occasion this year in New Zealand, showing the depth of the Anzac bond.
"It is an honour to spend Anzac Day in New Zealand," General Campbell said.
"The Australian Defence Force is proud to continue our long and deep service history alongside our close neighbour and ally, New Zealand, to support a stable, secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific region."
Outside the National War Memorial big screens simply displayed messages of the cancellation, leaving the hundreds who had gathered to disperse.
Around a dozen people staged an anti-war protest, holding up a banner which read "No NZ complicity in war and genocide: Free Palestine".
Prime Minister Chris Luxon was among many at the service at Auckland's Domain.
"Our veterans, we owe so much to," he said.
"They do so much great public service, they step up for New Zealand, past, present and future and they do an incredibly good job and I'm incredibly proud of them."
Four government ministers represented New Zealand at services overseas, including Foreign Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Cove in Gallipoli, and Defence Minister Judith Collins in Belgium.
"Standing here at Gallipoli, our words matter less than their deeds. We will never forget what they did here," Mr Peters said.
He told attendees to draw their own lessons from being at Gallipoli, but to come together to honour those who had paid with their lives.
Describing the present-day world as "troubled" and "the worst in memory", Mr Peters said diplomacy had never been more needed to de-escalate conflicts and ease tensions.
"We have emerged from a global pandemic a more divided world. Regional instabilities and the chaos they create threaten the security of too many. We must all do more. Demand more. And deliver more."
Australian Prime Minster Anthony Albanese was also commemorating Anzac Day overseas, as he is in Papua New Guinea.
"We hold to the solemn promise our countries made to the fallen all those years ago: We will remember them," he said in the town of Isurava, the scene of heavy fighting against the Japanese in World War 2.
"Anzac Day has never asked us to exalt in the glories of war. Anzac Day asks us to stand against the erosion of time, and to hold on to their names. To hold on to their deeds," he said, according to a transcript.
In Canberra, some 39,200 people attended a dawn memorial service at the Australian War Memorial, a spokesperson for the memorial said.
- AAP and Reuters
