Home at Last

For those who travelled to France to recover our Unknown Warrior, the 100,000 plus Kiwis who lined Wellington streets on 11 November to see the warrior pass through their ranks on the way to his internment, or the more than 10,000 who visited the warrior lying in state, it was a highly emotional time.

Many travelled from all around the nation to Wellington to be part of this unique event, many thousands watched the ceremonies on TV, or listened to the live radio broadcasts.

From personal involvement at the highest political level, to the youngest of children observing from their mother’s side, everyone was touched by the solemnity of the occasion; there was polite silence as the ceremonies were carried out, and as the parade moved through inner city streets.

It was a homecoming that befitted the remains of a warrior who represents the more than 30,000 New Zealanders killed on active service, and particularly the many thousands of New Zealand servicemen who have no known grave.

This Review pays tribute to the return of our Unknown Warrior…

Background

France: 6 November 2004

Homecoming: 10 November 2004

A Day to Remember: 11 November 2004

Badge in Gold for Unknown Warrior

Background

Known unto God

On ANZAC Day eve 2002, both major political parties announced their intention to establish in New Zealand a Tomb of the Unknown Warrior to honour all of this country's military personnel who have lost their lives in times of war.

The Royal New Zealand Returned and Services' Association warmly endorsed the proposal as it had first raised the idea of the ultimate memorial to our war dead in the early 1940s and had continued over the years to lobby various administrations to undertake its completion.

Up until recent years, all Commonwealth war dead have been commemorated by the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior in London's Westminster Abbey which contains the remains of an unidentified soldier serving with the British Empire forces and disinterred from a grave in the First World War battlefields of France.

New Zealand is one of the last major Commonwealth countries to have such recognition for the deceased members of its forces. Australia established their Tomb on Armistice Day 1993 with Canada following on 28 May 2000. Both countries entombed their warriors at their existing national war memorials in Canberra and Ottawa.

It has been RNZRSA's firm belief that the New Zealand tomb site should be at the National War Memorial in Wellington.

In announcing the initiative, Prime Minister Helen Clark, as Minister of Culture and Heritage, said that by following the actions of Australia and Canada, New Zealand would be making a symbolic statement of its own independent nationhood, and therefore the Westminster tomb could no longer be representative of all three nations.

With the exception of a few of the country's soldiers killed in the Vietnam War and since, New Zealanders who lost their lives while serving overseas are buried in the countries in which they fell.

Miss Clark said, there are, in total, around 28,000 New Zealand service personnel buried overseas, and for many families access to their graves could be far beyond their means.

She said a Tomb of the Unknown Warrior in New Zealand would be a tangible monument for all those who have lost family members overseas. "It would also remind current generations of the sacrifice of New Zealanders in overseas conflicts and peacekeeping operations," she said.

In two and a half years of bloody carnage on the Western Front during the Great War of 1914-18, 12,483 young New Zealanders gave their lives "for King and Country". Thirteen hundred and ninety-six of them lie in graves with the headstones inscribed "A New Zealand Soldier of the Great War, Known unto God".

Nearly 6000 New Zealanders are buried in France in 215 First World War cemeteries cared for by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. It is from one of these burial grounds that the Commission was requested to select a body from among the unidentified New Zealand soldiers.

Tomb design

	Kingsley Baird

The Tomb of the Unknown Warrior has been designed by a team of artists, architects, typographers, structural engineers, stonemasons, other specialist craftsmen and Maori advisers under the leadership of Wellington-based artist and designer Kingsley Baird.

The design, inspired by the Southern Cross constellation, possesses a distinctive New Zealand character, with the choice and treatment of materials, the use of symbols and language, strongly reflecting the unique cultural identity of this land and its people.

The Warrior will be guided by the stars of the Southern Cross on his journey back to New Zealand. The distance of the foreign land he leaves behind is represented on the base of the Tomb by a night sky of black granite inlaid with light grey Takaka marble crosses representing the Warrior’s companions who died in service for their country and remain overseas. They also signify stars in the night sky. Around the base of the Tomb is text of a karanga, in Maori and English, calling the Warrior back to his homeland.

A cloak of bronze, decorated with four inlaid pounamu crosses, alludes to the Warrior’s national flag. It will be laid over his body as a celestial mantle which also represents the vital role the Defence Forces play in protecting our nation and people.

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