It was a hundred years ago this month that a group of New Zealand soldiers achieved a feat of arms that received recognition around the world.
Soldiers from the 4th Battalion of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade, led by Lt Leslie Averill, placed a ladder against the rampart wall of the 17th Century fortified town of Le Quesnoy in Northeast France and were able to get into the town resulting in the liberation of the town after four years of German occupation and the capture of 2000 German soldiers.
The town has never forgotten the sacrifice of the 135 New Zealanders who died on 4 November 1918, and they continue to this day to remember that their town was not destroyed and no civilian died on that fateful day.
It was thanks to the high regard in which New Zealanders are held and the special welcome they are offered when they visit Le Quesnoy that a decision was made to establish a War Memorial Museum and Visitor Centre in the town to commemorate the 70,000 New Zealanders who served in France and Belgium from 1916 to 1918 and the 12,000 who never returned home.
For the past eight years Greg Moyle and Herb Farrant have worked tirelessly on their vision, resulting in the purchase last year by a Trust established for this purpose, of a property near the centre of the town for NZ$1.1 million.
Greg Moyle is a Herne Bay resident, well known for his local body political work, his chairmanship of the Mt Albert Grammar School Board of Trustees, his promotion of gardening in schools, and his patronage of the arts.
Greg served in both The Solomons and East Timor, prior to retiring from the New Zealand Army with the rank of major. He is sure the Le Quesnoy project is a very sound one. He told me more and more young New Zealanders are interested in learning about our military history, and are visiting battle sites in Europe.
“The proposed museum and visitor centre will have an important educational role in assisting New Zealanders young and old who travel to Europe to see first-hand what their forebears achieved 100 years ago. In Le Quesnoy we can tell ‘our story’ of those New Zealanders who came from the ‘uttermost ends of the earth’ and who punched ‘well above their weight’ on a global stage.”
Herb Farrant is a military historian and is currently the president of the New Zealand Military Historical Society.
“What makes this project unique,” says Moyle, “is that the property purchased has, along with a 19th Century mansion, the former mayor’s residence, nine brick and tile four bedroom maisonettes which will provide staff and visitor accommodation. Visitors to Le Quesnoy currently have very few places to stay.”
Once the renovation of these buildings is complete the museum and visitor centre will operate like a ‘home and income’ and be financially self-sufficient.
Le Quesnoy is a small town of about 5000 people, but the New Zealand presence is obvious. Streets are named after New Zealanders and there is an Ecole Averill - a local school named after the famous Lt Leslie Averill who was the first to scale the wall and help save the town from the German occupation.
Greg Moyle has struck up good friendships with two local mayors, Marie Sophie Lesne, Le Quesnoy, and Raymonde Dramez, Beaudignes, who look forward to an even closer association with New Zealand in the years ahead.
This strikes me as a very worthwhile project, and one well worth funding. It is important for us all to understand why our young men went to Europe to serve God, King and Country, and made such an impact. We must also remember that too many of them did not
come home.
It is heart warming to know they are so warmly remembered in the little town of Le Quesnoy. The trust is currently raising funds from the New Zealand public to provide the means to complete the project.
Information on the NZ War Memorial Trust and Visitor Centre can be found at www.nzwmm.org.nz (JOHN ELLIOTT)