The Great War

Yesterday was the 95th anniversary of the Battle of Passchendaele.

Gallipoli is when New Zealand lost its innocence and the battle most New Zealanders know about. But Passchendaele has the emotional connection for me. My paternal Grandfather served there.

846 New Zealander's were killed in the first 4 hours of 12 October, probably the blackest day for us in any war. A week later there were nearly 3200 casualties. To put that into perspective, it is almost 30% the number of deaths in just one day at Passchendaele compared to the total of 2721 NZ deaths during the whole of the Gallipoli Campaign over a period of 9 months.

I think we should remember Passchendaele as much as remember Gallipoli.

5000 New Zealanders were killed in the fields of Flanders (battles before and after Passchendaele). That's a lot from a population of just over 1 million. In today's terms, that would be 20,000 of our population.

Granddad returned from 2 1/2 years on the Western Front. This is his certificate from the New Zealand government issued to the New Zealand Expeditionary Forces.

I wonder what he thought and felt when he received it.

It has exquisite detail and is worth viewing large

More about Passchendaele

Lest we forget.

(I'm off to the hunter's tomorrow afternoon and I'll be out Monday night. It might not be Tuesday until I reappear again).