Image / standatdawn.com
The RSA and NZDF will team up to host a virtual ANZAC Day service this April 25. The virtual Dawn Service will be transmitted live on RNZ from 6am this Anzac Day.
This is the first time in Aotearoa history that Anzac Day services have been cancelled across the country. While terrorism safety measures affected Anzac services last year, COVID-19 has forced its hand.
However, Royal New Zealand Returned Services Association (the National governing RSA body), President B J Clark says that despite the cancellation of local events, COVID-19 will not stop us from following our century-old tradition of honouring our nation's warriors.
“Even though public Anzac services are unable to go ahead, it does not mean that the tradition of remembering and commemorating our veterans and service personnel should be cancelled too," B J Clark says.
Clark says that the focus this year is to help whānau celebrate Anzac Day at home. To achieve that end, RNZSA have launched a website called #StandAtDawn filled with ideas for whānau-centred activities.
“It is about keeping the ANZAC spirit of self-sacrifice alive and relevant for the challenging times in which we now live,” Clark says.
Chief of the Defence Force Air Marshal Kevin Short is calling on the nation to get behind it.
"This year, more than ever, we need to draw on the many qualities that the enduring ANZAC spirit has taught us; mateship, endurance, good humour, ingenuity, and courage.
“We encourage veterans, our service people, families and the wider public to engage with the Stand at Dawn campaign,” CDF Air Marshal Short says.
All public ANZAC Day services on 25 April were called off in the second week of March. The call came as a precaution to protect whānau and kaumātua from the transmission of the COVID-19 virus.
Add to...
[ Log in ]
to add this video to a playlist.
Te Ao - Māori News / 19 March 2020
Read more: