This morning our daughter, her two boys and I attended the ANZAC Day Dawn Parade and Service at the cenotaph in the Feilding town square. It was a very cold and shall we say breezy autumn morning as we made our way into the square shortly before 6 a.m.
As a Quaker I am conflicted between the courage that those who are prepared to put their lives on the line for what they believe is an honourable cause and those who are willing to kill for what they believe is an honourable cause. More often than not these are the same people.
Perhaps my attendance his morning was to honour my father, who fought with the NZ army in Egypt and Italy and who, as a senior sergeant, had the courage to countermand the orders of a commissioned officer to open fire on a group of unarmed Italian soldiers. My father was relieved of his duty and the order re-issued, resulting in a massacre. The commissioned officer was commended for his bravery and my father was court marshalled.
Despite his court marshal, my father gained a chest full of medals, and as long as I can remember he attended the Dawn Parade every ANZAC day, but unlike every other returned serviceman/servicewoman he alone would march with no medals pinned on his chest.
I can only admire his courage for not wearing his medals in the face of not inconsiderable opposition from his fellow servicemen as they marched to the cenotaph, year in and year out until age and injury put an end to his participation. At this morning’s service one speaker made the comment that all service personnel have an obligation to wear their medals at the Dawn Parade. I can only imagine what my father’s response would have been if he was still alive.
Another Spectrum 
26 Apr, 2024 at 5:29 am
Impressed that your father withstood the pressure to initiate that massacre himself. I’m also impressed (or something else) that he continued his relationship with the military after his court marshal., I would have been long gone, full of spite, never to be heard from again.
26 Apr, 2024 at 7:40 am
His didn’t have a spiteful bone in his body so to speak. He had an intense loyalty to those who served under him, and that was always his first consideration. In his view it was the system not the personnel that was wrong. As far as his participation in the Dawn Parade was concerned, I suspect it was in his way a statement about remembering and honouring his comrades and a protest about the futility of war.