WATCH: Daily Last Post ends in November
Jun 8th, 2018 | By Nicholas Hendricks | Category: Front Page Layout, News, Top Picture
After being played over 1000 times, the daily Last Post ceremony at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park is coming to an end in November.
The ceremony, commemorating New Zealand’s WW1 dead, has taken place every night at 5pm since 2015.
On Armistice Day, November 11th it will be 100 years since the end of the conflict on the Western Front in Europe, which claimed the lives of over 18 000 Kiwi soldiers.
The Last Post ritual at the Pukeahu War Memorial Park takes between 3 and 7 minutes.
Locals are encouraged to take part in the recitation of the Ode of Remembrance which is read in both English and Te Reo.
The Last Post, traditionally played on a bugle, calls the spirits of fallen soldiers home and symbolically ends a day of battle.
The requiem was played to signal the military camp or fort was secure for the night after the last sentry post was inspected.
It is now used at military funerals and military commemorations.
A minute of silence is observed to remember the Kiwi soldiers who never came home.