Passchendaele competition winner

Tauranga MP Simon Bridges presenting the 2017 Battle of Passchendaele prize to Fu Man (Amanda) Yang

Tauranga Girls' College Year 13 student, Fu Man (Amanda) Yang, has won (first equal) a national competition with her entry commemorating the Battle of Passchendaele. The battle which happened one hundred years ago in October 1917 is said to be ‘Our Darkest Day' in NZ's history.

Amanda wins a place as a Youth Ambassador for New Zealand, visiting the site in Belgium in October, for the Battle of Passchendaele centenary, with the New Zealand Defence Force contingent.

The Youth Ambassador programme is an initiative of the Minister of Veterans to ensure the enduring legacy of New Zealand veterans is carried into the future. The programme involves the current generation of young New Zealanders sharing their stories and experiences of remembering New Zealand's service in war and conflict.

Amanda submitted a poem titled Passchendaele 12 October 1917. The judging panel said that Amanda's entry was ‘compelling, thought-provoking and highly emotive.'

Tauranga Girls' College has had a focus over the past years on the centenary of the Great War, with a school history trip in April 2016 to Europe which included the WW1 battle sites in the Passchendaele and Somme areas.

Amanda's prize is an all-expenses paid three week trip, and $2000 cash.

Amanda Yang's poem:

Passchendaele 12 October 1917

12 October 1917

5:25am opening barrage began

Second New Zealand infantry brigade and third New Zealand rifles

Walked on

Walked on

Mud and rain and pain

That dragged them every centimetre marched

Much closer to the grave

Cloaked by blinding gas

Suffocated

Drained

No respite

No energy left to fight

And still...

The enemy rattled through belt after belt while the New Zealanders fell by the score1

They fell on Gravenstafel road tangled in wire

No call to retire

They fought on

On 12 October 1917

3:00pm another push

This time halted

and the dying slowed

846 sons of New Zealand mothers fell

That darkest day before the dimming of the light

In the dawn eight kilometres gained

At the cost of 846

106 men and boys for every one kilometre won

But what a loss

Of New Zealand sons and lovers, men and boys

...

12 October 2017

We will remember them

They who were young, straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.2

The sons of NZ mothers, the lovers, the brothers, the men and boys from Aotearoa

We will gather in the half light at the dawning of the day

In a foreign field

Where row on row on row the poppies grow3

Like a korowai bestowed by Papatuanuku

To cover up our men

To protect them from their foes

A foe who too lies

in a country that is not their own

A generation that will never return to their home

On this day

12 October 2017

We stand beside them as we could not do in battle

Our men, our boys from Aotearoa

Haere rā e tama Haere rā. Haria rā te aroha i ahau Aue! me tangi noa Ahau ki muri nei Te iwi e He ngākau tangi noa.4

We their people weep again

In Passchendaele 100 years today

  1. Harper, G, ‘Dark Journey' 2007, p.57

  1. Binyon, L ‘For the Fallen'

  1. McCrae, John ‘In Flanders Field'

  1. In 1918, Paraire Tomoana composed this tangi to Maori solders lost in battle during World War 1. This stanza translates as

Farewell young man, Farewell. Take my love with you Alas! There is weeping inside of me, left behind here and inside of the people Weeping in our hearts.

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2 comments

Passchendaele competiton winner

Posted on 23-06-2017 18:16 | By peter pan

Great piece of poetry and hope you have a great time.


Well done Amanda .Well done.

Posted on 24-06-2017 13:25 | By Active

What a inspirational talented young Kiwi Girl.


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