The graves of 18 Cook Islands World War I ANZACs have been restored and protected from the encroaching sea in Rarotonga. A group of volunteers, including the descendants of the veterans, have spruced up their grave sites by concreting and painting them. They also repaired the headstones, as part of the Nikao Cemetery Restoration Project. Read more
In Mount Isa, four Y5 students at St Joseph’s school have prepared a Remembrance Day tribute to a Kiwi First World War veteran. Ryan Philp, Eric Asomah, Dean Brien and Pratik Seegoolan participated in the 2017 Graves Project researching the lives and service histories of veterans buried in Mount Isa. Continue reading
A New Zealand Memorial and Garden has been opened at Zonnebeke, Belgium, in time for the 100th anniversary of the battle of Passchendaele. It is one ‘petal’ of a larger memorial for all those who died there – including German soldiers. It’s also a departure from the style of tributes in the 1920s to the ‘glorious dead’, Read more
The chalice of First World War chaplain Father James Joseph McMenamin was handed over to New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) chaplains during a Mass at Sacred Heart Church, Petone on Sunday. The NZDF will take to the chalice to Belgium where it will be used in services in Nieppe and Mesen/Messines as part of the Read more
Eleven NZ Defence Force chaplains who have died while serving their country will be remembered in a commemorative service at the Wellington Cathedral of St Paul on 28 August 2015. It is one hundred years since the first NZ Defence Force chaplain was killed on active duty. The service will be attended by the Governor-General, Read more
The mystery of how a giant flag that flew at Gallipoli a century ago came to hang in a New Zealand church has been solved by a naval historian. A report in the Herald told the story of the white ensign from HMS Queen that hangs in a corner of the Christchurch Cathedral in Nelson. Read more
Germany’s Catholic bishops have acknowledged that churches share responsibility for “war-mongering” in the build up to the First World War. In a statement, the bishops said the Great War’s dimensions were “shocking”. The conflict from 1914 to 1918 left 16 million dead and 21 million wounded. The centenary of the outbreak of the war was Read more
Pope Benedict XV was archbishop of Bologna, Italy, in June 1914 when the pistol shots of a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo murdered Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, and echoed throughout the world. On Aug. 20, 1914, with World War I less than a month old, Pope Pius X died, and on Sept. Read more
This gets personal. In fact, should I even be saying all this to people I have never met? What do I say? How far do I go? These are things I never talk about with strangers. Anzac Day is one of those mysterious days. We know the meaning, only what is the meaning precisely? I Read more