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Their names are inscribed on cenotaphs across the country, but their stories are often lost to time.
Each name etched on a memorial holds a story, even if the name has been unspoken for many years.
As part of this year’s Anzac Day celebrations, Hibiscus Matters takes a closer look as some of the stories behind the names on the Silverdale War Memorial, which sits between Silverdale’s rugby and tennis clubs …
Local dawn and morning services: Silverdale RSA, Vipond Road Stanmore Bay, Dawn 5.45am and morning 11am. Wreath laying service: Orewa – Remembrance Reserve Time: 1pm
Our Sergeant
Mark Vipond Jr was born on April 22, 1894, and raised in Matakana, where he worked as a farmer.
It was 110 years ago, on a dreary, waterlogged October 16, when the first troops departed Wellington Harbour to join British forces for the Great War. This ‘main body’ was the largest group of New Zealanders to leave New Zealand’s shores.
Vipond boarded an Egypt-bound boat. He battled measles, enteritis and jaundice on top of the extremities of battle in Passchendaele and the Dardanelles, the sweltering heat of the Sinai Desert and the brutalities of war.
He fought in the Auckland Mounted Rifles regiment, and was promoted to the rank of sergeant.
Vipond was killed in the battle of Bir El Abd on August 19, 1916. His comrades buried him, leaving a cross with basic details and a photograph labelled ‘our sergeant’.
Eleven other Auckland residents fell alongside Vipond on that day, with 30 members from his brigade, and 73 Anzacs in total.
His Country Calleth
Joey Alon Vipond was also a farmer in Matakana, where he was born August 28, 1889. He followed in his cousin’s footsteps and joined on May 31, 1916, as a part of the 17th reinforcements.
Vipond trained at Trentham Training Camp near Upper Hutt, which was the Defence Department’s first training camp. In the previous winter, 27 other recruits had died from infectious diseases that spread throughout the recruits.
The ground turned to mud, and the demand for supplies outweighed the amount that came in. Disease ran rampant and spread easily in these conditions. Vipond contracted measles and succumbed to his illness surrounded by family on July 10, 1916. He is buried in Matakana Cemetery with the words ‘His Country Calleth’ written on the cross.
War has no holidays
Stanley Francis Weir’s roots were in Upper Orewa, a young man described as having an intelligent mind and bright future.
Although born in Taranaki, he moved to Auckland in his school years and went on to study electrical engineering at the Auckland Technical College. He was remembered for his love of football, and his role as assistant scoutmaster for the Grange Road Scout troop.
On October 9, 1915, Weir signed up to fight overseas as a rifleman, and was promoted to the rank of sergeant. Aged 24 years, on the coast of Egypt’s Marsa Matruh on Christmas Day 1915, Weir was killed in action alongside 13 others, with 51 wounded. He was one of the first six members of his brigade to be killed.
Two to go, one to return
Albert John Cross and his brother Ernest William went into the thick of war together, with only one of them making it out the other side. They both came from Dairy Flat and enlisted on February 24, 1916. They arrived in Suez, Egypt, 32 days later, along with 2363 other soldiers aboard the SS Tofua. In early January of 1917, Albert was killed in action.
We remember the fallen soldiers on Anzac Day, but we should also think of the brothers and fathers and sons who came back with holes in their hearts. Albert died at age 27, while Ernest lived to be 81.
The Butler Stoney legacy
Ormonde Henry Butler Stoney was born on July 29, 1895. A farmer from Silverdale, he volunteered and departed New Zealand on a cloudy day in May, 1916, aged 20.
Butler Stoney served as a rifleman in the New Zealand Rifle Brigade’s 6th Reinforcements to 1st Battalion, E Company. This battalion fought in the Senussi campaign, at the Somme, in Messines, and Passchendaele.
His family were early settlers in the district, with both Butler Stoney Crescent in Millwater and the former Stoney Homestead, now a community centre, recognising their legacy. Through dire battles, illnesses and injuries he faced throughout his time serving in both WWI and WWII, Butler Stoney was one of the survivors. He died in Silverdale aged 92.
As a country, we remember the many. As a community, it is our job to remember the few, lest we forget the stories that go hand-in-hand with the sacrifices. Mark, Joey, Stanley, Albert, Ernest and Ormonde are six names among the 100,000 Anzac soldiers who we commemorate on April 25.
