1000th Last Post at Pukeahu

The 1000th daily Last Post ceremony marking the First World War centenary will be held at Pukeahu National War Memorial at 5.00pm on Thursday 18 January and members of the public are welcome to attend.

To mark the occasion the stories of five servicemen, Rifleman Horatio Beechey, Private Ernest Cook, Private Ernest Sharman, Captain Charles Ward and Rifleman Harold Winwood who died on this day 100 years ago will be read.

Hon Grant Robertson, Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage and MP for Wellington Central will attend along with representative from the New Zealand Defence Force and the RSA.

The daily Last Post ceremony honours all New Zealand servicemen and women who lost their lives in times of war. With the first to mark the centenary held on Anzac Day 2015 the ceremonies will continue until this year’s Armistice Day on 11 November.

Held each evening in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior the public are invited to participate in the Last Post ceremony by reading the Ode of Remembrance or playing the bugle. The service lasting about 10 minutes includes lowering the two New Zealand flags, playing the Last Post, the observation of one minute’s silence and the Ode of Remembrance in Māori and English.

Anyone interested in participating in the ceremony is invited to apply by filling in details on the Manatū Taonga website at: http://mch.govt.nz/last-post

Details of the men to be honoured:
Twenty year old Horatio Beechey, a bushman from Auckland, was a rifleman with the 3rd New Zealand Rifle Brigade. Killed in action on the Western Front he is buried at Oxford Road Cemetery, in Leper, Belgium.
Ernest Cook, a Clerk in the Holy Order from Northland, was a private with the New Zealand Medical Corps. He was killed in action on the Western Front and is buried in The Huts Cemetery in Belgium. He was 26 years old.

Originally from Somerset, England, Ernest Sharman was a travelling salesman in Nelson. A Private with the New Zealand Medical Corps he was killed in action on the Western Front and is buried in The Huts Cemetery in Belgium. He was 29 years old.

Thirty three year-old Charles Ward, a dentist from Wellington, was a Captain in the New Zealand Dental Corps. On 18 January he disappeared from the field hospital where he was a patient. Letters to his wife noted his intention to commit suicide. Officially classified as missing he is remembered on a memorial panel at the Walton-on-Thames Cemetery.

Harold Winwood, originally from Tasmania, was a ploughman in Methven. A rifleman in the 3rd New Zealand Rifle Brigade he was killed in action on the Western Front and is buried at Buttes New British Cemetery, in Belgium. He was 26 years old.

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