Tonga High student joins Somme Centenary in France [1]
Friday, September 23, 2016 - 16:25. Updated on Friday, September 23, 2016 - 16:30.
Anna Jane Vea, a Tonga High School student was one of four Pacific Island students who attended commemorations of the Somme Centenary in France last week. There were three commemorative services on 15 September 2016 in Longueval, France, to mark New Zealand's involvement in the Battle of the Somme.
Anna joined the other young people from Samoa, Niue and the Cook Islands at the centenary commemorations after winning a First World War Centenary essay competion run by the New Zealand High Commission in Nuku’alofa.
The New Zealand sponsored trip to France was part of the WW100 program aimed at helping students remember and deepen their understanding of the contribution their countries and the sacrifices made by New Zealand and Tongan soldiers in World War I, and the ongoing impact of this.
Anna Jane said she had become more grateful having learnt about the sacrifices made by the New Zealand and Tongan soldiers who served in the First World War.
She acknowledged that Tonga continues to maintain its indepences, and she enjoys the freedoms that it brings. “Their sacrifice does not just mean something to me, but to all of us, and it shall continue to do so in generations to come.”
New Zealanders in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force were joined by approximately 500 Pacific Islands soldiers in the First World War. The majority were Cook Islanders and Niueans, 40 percent were part of the NZ Pioneer Battalion in France during 1916-17, while over 300 Cook Islanders served in the Middle East from 1917-18.
Men from Tonga, Samoa, Fij, Kiribati, Tuvalu and Norfolk Island also served overseas with the New Zealand forces during the First World War.
The Battle of Somme was the first major battle for New Zealand on the Western Front.