28 September, 2004

Defence Force Early Morning Slow March Through Wellington

A Gun Carriage pulled by a land rover, New Zealand Army soldiers acting as bearer party and pallbearers, and a drummer to keep the time, escorted by the New Zealand Police, slow marched through the CBD at 4am this morning as part of their training in the lead up to the return of the Unknown Warrior.

The military group, conducting an initial route reconnaissance, are only a small number of those who will be involved in the military funeral procession that will occur on 11 November, conveying the Unknown Warrior from the Wellington Cathedral of Saint Paul on Molesworth Street to the National War Memorial in Buckle Street.

There will be over 570 Defence Force personnel, including bands from the Royal New Zealand Navy, New Zealand Army and Royal New Zealand Air Force involved in the ceremonial events surrounding the return of the Unknown Warrior on 10 and 11 November. The funeral procession itself is expected to be up to 100 meters in length and take approximately an hour to travel through the city. The route is 3 kilometres long.

The Unknown Warrior will be interred at the National War Memorial, with the tomb serving as a focus of remembrance of the sacrifice made by New Zealand service men and women in all wars.

ENDS

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