In the lead up to the Gallipoli centenary, New Zealanders and Australians paid their respects to the nation’s fallen Anzacs at special memorial services onboard Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth in Auckland on February 27 and Sydney on March 3, 2015
Reflecting Cunard’s long-standing association with Anzac wartime campaigns, including Gallipoli, the cruise line invited locals to pay tribute to their Anzac heroes by placing a poppy on a wall of remembrance beside Queen Elizabeth.
Onboard, two moving commemoration services were held with senior military personal, political leaders and community dignitaries attending.
Among the guests at the service were Herb Christophers and Mark Keys.
Herb Christophers family lost four of five brothers at Gallipoli and on the Western Front during the course of World War One – with the last of the sons, Mr Christophers’ grandfather, dying just a month before the end of the war.
Mark Keys is the great grandson of 2nd Lieutenant Francis Jensen who was killed on only his third day of battle at Gallipoli. Mr Keys’ three sons are the same age as when his great grandfather went into battle.
Visitors to a two-metre poppy wall, formed in the shape of “100” to mark the upcoming centenary, were invited to honour their war heroes by writing a personal message in a remembrance book.
Both the poppy wall and remembrance book will form the centrepiece of a commemorative service on April 24, the eve of Anzac Day, when Queen Elizabeth reaches the waters off the Gallipoli Peninsula during her current world voyage. Messages from the book will be read out at the service and the book will then be placed in Queen Elizabeth’s library where it will remain in memory of the heroes of Gallipoli.