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12 August 2005
VJ Day in New Zealand
On Sunday 14 August and Monday 15 August 2005 (VJ Day) there are planned
a number of events and services to commemorate the end of the Second World
War.
 Sunday,
14 August
Monday,
15 August 2005 (VJ Day)
'Come
on Home' Lecture Series
Sunday, 14 August 2005
Auckland
Christchurch
Auckland
VE/VJ Day and Battle of Britain Commemorative Parade
Place: Queen Street, Auckland
Time: 12.00 noon
A parade comprising World War II Veterans, Defence, Police, NZ Cadet
Forces and Fire Service personnel will march up Queen Street to the beat
of the same drum on Sunday 14 August in the VJ/VE Day and Battle of Britain
Commemorative Parade.
The parade commemorates the 60th anniversary of the Allied victories
in Europe and Japan and the 65th anniversary of the Battle of Britain
and will include an inspection of the parade and speeches.
The Royal Guard of Honour, made up of members of the three New Zealand
Defence Forces, will assemble at midday at the intersection of Queen and
Fort Streets and at 12:30 will commence the march up Queen Street. At
Wellesley St East the WWII Veterans will join the parade behind the Royal
Guard of Honour. Those Veterans unable to march will be riding in vintage
military vehicles provided by MOTAT.
Her Excellency the Governor General Dame Silvia Cartwright, PCNZM, DBE
will perform an inspection of the Royal Guard of Honour and platoons of
personnel. The parade will then continue - turning right into Mayoral
Drive, completing a U-turn at Greys Avenue, returning back along Mayoral
Drive, turning left into Queen St, left again into Wellesley Street West,
and then finishing in Mayoral Drive at approximately 1.30pm.
There is a large military music aspect to the event with the band of
the RNZ Air Force playing prior to the parade at the top of Queen Street,
and the bands from the RNZ Navy, Artillery Band and Police Band taking
part in the parade.
After the parade, refreshments will be provided in Aotea Square and there
will be displays from the Navy, Army and Air Force, (including a Navy
Seasprite Helicopter on display), and a police dog exhibition. There will
also be a chance to check out a career in the New Zealand Defence Force
with representatives from each of the three Services on hand.
Members of the public are warmly welcomed to watch the parade from Queen
Street to honour those who fought for our country.
Auckland City Council
www.aucklandcity.govt.nz
VJ Day @ Auckland War Memorial Museum
www.aucklandmuseum.com
Christchurch
60th VJ Day Anniversary Remembrance & Celebration
Place: Cathedral Square and North Hagley Park
Time: 9.00am to 4.30pm
March
- Bridge of Remembrance to The Square
Ecumenical
Service
Remembrance
Wreath Layign Ceremony
Celebration
- 11.00am
Display
& Expo
March - Bridge of Remembrance to The Square
via Oxford Terrace
Place: Bridge of Remembrance
Time: assembly 9.00am for 9.30am
Open-air Ecumenical Service
Place: Cathedral Square
Time: assembly 9.45am for 10.00am
Ngai Tahu, Dean of Christchurch / Military Chaplains, etc Cathedral &
Oxford, England choirs, dignitaries, Salvation Army, Caledonian Pipe and
St Andrews Pipe bands
Remembrance - Wreath Laying Ceremony
Place: Cathedral Square
Time: following Ecumenical Service
By formal groups / bugler / Honour Guard etc
Celebration - 11.00am
Place: Cathedral Square
Time: 11.00 am
Make as much noise as possible with hooters, tooters, bells, horns, drums
etc in conjunction with the firing in Cathedral Square of a 25lb field
gun, Cathedral bell pealing, helicopter and large poppy drop, sirens and
lots more... at 11.00 am
Display & Expo
Place: North Hagley Park
Time: 11.00 am to 4.30 pm
A fun family day in the park where Warhorses, helicopter flights, bands,
sauasage sizzles, devonshire teas, the NZ Defense forces. NZ Cadet Forces,
RNZAF Museum, Ferrymead and warhorse re-enactors and numerous other youth,
community and service groups can and will be represented
Christchurch City Council
www.bethere.org.nz
Monday, 15 August 2005 (VJ Day)
WELLINGTON
60th Anniversary of the End of WWII in the Pacific Official Programme
RNZRSA
Wreathlaying Ceremony at National War Memorial
Military
and Veterans Parade
National
Commemorative Service at Wellignton Cathedral
RNZRSA Wreathlaying Ceremony at National War Memorial
Place: National War Memorial, Buckle Street.
Time: 10.30am
RSA members and the public are welcome to attend.
11.00am The official time when New Zealanders learnt
of the surrender on VJ Day 1945 the Carillon Peace Bell at the National
War Memorial will be tolled 6 times – one for each year of the war.
'Toccata Octofonica' will then be played on The Carillon in celebration
of the 60th anniversary.
Military and Veterans Parade
Place: Leaves Civic Square for the Wellington
Cathedral of St Paul
Time: 12noon
Parade route: Civic Square, Mercer Street, Willis Street,
Lambton Quay, Molesworth Street.
Members of the public are invited to witness this parade and to cheer
on our WWII veterans from throughout New Zealand. Members of the public
are warmly invited to attend Commemorative Service at Wellington Cathedral
(see below).
12.25pm Parade arrives at Wellington Cathedral.
12.40pm Commemorative Service.
1.25pm Commemorative Service concludes.
1.35pm Military and Veterans Parade leaves for Parliament
Grounds.
1.45pm Prime Minister takes the salute at the march past
of Veterans.
1.50pm RNZAF fly past.
Commemorative Service marking the 60th Anniversary of
the End of WWII in the Pacific
Place: Wellington Cathedral of St Paul (corner Hill
and Molesworth Streets)
Time: 12.40pm (Please be seated by 12.15pm)
Service conducted by the Dean of Wellington in the presence
of Her Excellency The Honourable Dame Silvia Cartwright,
Governor-General of New Zealand and The Right Honourable
Helen Clark, Prime Minister of New Zealand
Members of the public are warmly invited to attend and are requested
to be seated by 12.15pm
This service and the Prime Minister's review of the veterans parade at
Parliament will be televised live on TV
One from 12.30pm.
In the event of extreme wet weather the parade will be cancelled.
VJ Day: 60th Anniversary Commemorations
Screens live on TV ONE, Monday August 15 at 12.30pm
www.tvnz.co.nz
'Come on Home': The End of the
Second World War
Place: National Library Auditorium,
Wellington (corner Aitkin and Molesworth Streets)
Time: Each
Thursday in August, starting at 5.30pm
Sixty years ago New Zealanders celebrated the end of the Second World
War and our boys, and girls, came home from six years of fighting and
hardship.
A series of four talks running through August will commemorate the end
of the war and consider the emotional, social and political impact it
had on New Zealand, starting with VE and VJ day, and ending with the impact
of war on the children of veterans.
All the talks begin at 5.30pm in the National Library Auditorium, entrance
on Aitken Street.
Out in the Streets: VE and VJ Days
Thursday 4 August
Almost sixty years after the end of the Second World War in our part
of the world, historian Jock Phillips discusses how New Zealanders marked
the end of the war on VE day in May and VJ day in August 1945. Were we
out in the streets?
Jock Phillips is General Editor of Te Ara: the encyclopedia
of New Zealand, at the Ministry for Culture and Heritage.
Interpreting and Remembering War’s Past: Wartime Letters
Thursday 11 August
Letter writing is becoming a forgotten art, but in the years of the Second
World War letters were the only link between loved ones and those overseas.
Deborah Montgomerie reads between the lines of wartime correspondence
to show how New Zealanders managed the emotional and psychological challenges
of war.
Deborah Montgomerie teaches history at the University
of Auckland. Love in Time of War: Letter Writing in the Second World War
is her latest book.
Where Britain Goes, We No Longer Go? The Legacy of the Maori
Battalion
Thursday 18 August
The Maori Battalion took men from all over the country and showed them
a way of life, and death, on the other side of the world. War service
was, Sir Apirana Ngata noted, the price of citizenship. Monty Soutar considers
this price and examines the impact of the Battalion in post-war society.
Monty Soutar is Fellow in Maori History at the Ministry
for Culture and Heritage where he is writing a history of C Company, 28
(Maori) Battalion.
Post-War? The Continuing Impact of the Second World War
Thursday 25 August
The damaging effects of combat can reach down through generations to
have a detrimental impact on the children of war veterans. Alison Parr
considers the implications of this for New Zealand.
Alison Parr is an oral historian with the Ministry for
Culture and Heritage where she runs From Memory, a war oral history programme.
This series of talks is jointly organised by the Ministry for Culture
and Heritage and the Alexander Turnbull Library.
Related Site
VE/VJ Day Online Exhibition (Ministry for Culture and Heritage www.nzhistory.net.nz/Gallery/vevj
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