Hundreds turn out for Montecillo service

A warm, sunny, but windy, morning greeted about 400 people who attended the popular Anzac Day service at Montecillo Veterans Home & Hospital.

The service began with a welcome from Emeritus Prof John Broughton and the parading of the Anzac Remembrance New Zealand Flag by a colour party from HMNZS Toroa, before chaplain Leah Graefe led a series of prayers and hymns.

Fresh from the dawn service at the cenotaph, the Dunedin RSA Choir led the singing, accompanied by Kaikorai Metropolitan Brass Band.

In her Anzac address, Petty Officer Bianca Lestuzzi, of the Royal Australian Navy, spoke of the deep connection between Australia and New Zealand, and the mutual sacrifice of the generations who went away to war.

‘‘As I have travelled around, I have taken in the variety of cenotaphs in New Zealand and read the names of those lost,’’ she said.

The memorials were similar to those in Australia, and reflected that there was no part of the two nations that had not been scarred by war, she said.

PO Lestuzzi also remembered the families left behind, their strength and resilience in the face of great loss.

Following the reading of The Ode in Te Reo Māori by Prof Broughton and English by Dunedin RSA president Squadron Leader Kevin Weir, the service concluded with the Last Post and Reveille, and final prayers.

In his closing remarks, Montecillo Veterans Home & Hospital Trust chairman David More highlighted the growing crisis of attrition facing the New Zealand Defence Force, which had lost 36% of its members since April 2021.

In troubled times, with major conflicts around the world, it was imperative that the government move quickly to rebuild the defence force, he said.

brenda.harwood@thestar.co.nz