Passchendaele - a word that conjures up the horrors of all wars, especially for those now intimately connected with what was then a small and innocuous village in Flanders, the Flemish region of Belgium. In terms of casualties, the morning of 12 October 1917 was - and is - the worst and bleakest day in New Zealand’s history of warfare. 846 of our young men were killed on that morning alone and, by the end of the day, 2740 were dead, wounded or missing.
To commemorate those who fought and died, our Society Board invites you to join us and other guests as we remember the 1917 battle at Passchendaele.
The function will be hosted at Parliament Buildings by Cameron Brewer MP, Member for Upper Harbour and also a member of the Society.
Our guest speaker will be Dr Graham Howie, PhD, OStJ, a career paramedic and university lecturer in paramedicine. In his talk "Mighty few of the bearers are left" he will tell us about the work of stretcher-bearers at Passchendaele, those early paramedics who laboured under the most dreadful conditions to rescue the dead and wounded.
