Prince Charles Honours New Zealand’s Battle of the Somme Fallen

The Prince of Wales attended a commemoration today at the Caterpillar Valley Cemetery in Longueval, France to mark 100 years since New Zealand forces entered into the Battle of the Somme.

“The footprints we leave today mark the centre of a struggle that found twenty-five countries from five continents on opposing sides in a terrible and exhausting trial of strength. None came further to serve here than the New Zealanders who, on the Somme, confirmed their reputation as exceptional soldiers…What occurred here 100 years ago did not create national character – it revealed it,” he said in a speech given at the service that described the army from New Zealand’s spirit and the terrible losses they suffered, concluding with “Kia mau mahara tonu tātou ki a rātou (We will remember them)”.

He then headed to the New Zealand Battlefield Memorial where he laid a wreath and met ambassadors from New Zealand and the Pacific Islands visiting France on a ‘Shared History’ project.

Prince Charles is a Field Marshal of the New Zealand Army.

Filed under The United Kingdom
Tagged Anniversary, France, Military, New Zealand, The Prince of Wales, World War I.