The brutal reality of what awaited teenagers bound for war a century ago has not escaped Josh Scadden.
The 15-year-old King's High School pupil will take part in this weekend's embarkation commemorations, which mark a century since the first troops of the Otago Infantry Battalion - many of them not much older than Josh - departed for World War 1.
His father, Chris, served in Bosnia and his great-grandfather, Corporal Walter Henry Irving, served as a mechanic with the air force during World War 2.
Those links and a ''big fascination with war history'' led to Josh joining the Dunedin RSA, becoming its youngest member.
The reasons for taking part in the embarkation commemorations were obvious to Josh: ''So we can remember the sacrifice of many, many young men from Dunedin''.
''I was doing some research and I found there were 33 sets of brothers from New Zealand killed during the war. That is a lot,'' Josh said.
He will wear his great-grandfather's medals during the memorial parade from the Oval to the Dunedin Railway Station tomorrow morning.
Dunedin RSA president Jenepher Glover said a ''very large'' crowd was expected at the parade, which leaves the Oval at 11am.
''We have got military, we have got Scouts taking part, we have got a train coming from Invercargill - we are expecting a large crowd,'' she said.
''We are going to be one of the first cities marking it [embarkation] and it's going to be a great opportunity for the community to come and remember.
''It's going to be a great spectacle.''
Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull said it was a chance to remember the early days of the massive sacrifice made by those who passed through the city on their way to serve.
''The numbers are chilling,'' he said.
''New Zealand's population was only a million in 1914, yet 100,000 New Zealanders went overseas to serve ... around 18,500 were killed, while another 41,000 were either wounded or became sick.''
The commemorations will follow the route taken by soldiers 100 years ago as they walked from their training ground at Tahuna Park to the Oval, where they gathered before parading along Princes St, through the Octagon and down Stuart St to the Dunedin Railway Station.
''Dunedin has a unique opportunity to re-create something of that day as we commemorate those who went to serve 100 years ago.''
Advertisement
