Young Josē lays poppy In honour of great-grandfather

Josē-Emmanuēl Leonard Steadman is the great-grandson of a Te Whānau ā Apanui “reluctant, local, hero, Leonard Helmbright”. Ten-year-old Josē attended Anzac Day this year and acknowledged his great-grandfather, not because his parents forced him, not because everyone else was, but because Josē wants to respect and honour his great grandpa. For years Josē and his family have attended Te Kaha dawn parade, and with this year being his fourth in a row Josē is happily accustomed to early mornings and nippy weather.

Private Leonard Helmbright, also known as Len, served in the 28th Māori Battalion. He was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal of Honour and died in 2001, happy father of seven and loving husband of late wife Daphne Helmbright (maiden name Edwards). Josē is only one of 18 great-grandchildren to acknowledge him for his active duty.

It has become conventional in the family for legendary war stories to be told around the table with a cup of tea. Stories not just about Leonard Helmbright but about war history being told and retold through three different generations. Anzac Day has become a day of learning, a day where we subsequently relive history. There is still pain shown through daughters who are now grandmothers, grandsons who are now fathers, with the last officer of the 28th Māori Battalion who sadly passed on over the year it is up to the newer generation to re-tell these stories.

Josē is just a start for tradition to live on. With his grandmother taking his father to Anzac, amd now his father taking Josē to Anzac, undoubtedly Josē will carry the legacy by taking his own offspring to Anzac. The younger generation are the future and with Josē laying a poppy to pay tribute, we shall always remember them.