Caterpillar Valley Cemetery, Longueval, in the Somme Valley; one of many haunting pictures in the book Remembered. This Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery contains 5,568 burials, 3,795 of them unidentified. It was from here that the remains of an unidentified New Zealand soldier was returned home in 2004 for interment in the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior at the National War Memorial in Wellington.

Transforming Graveyards into Gardens

The Vice-Chairman of Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), Air Chief Marshal (Retd) Sir Peter Squire, visited cemeteries and memorials in New Zealand from 20–25 October 2007.

New Zealand is a member of the CWGC and the visit also acknowledged the role played by our Ministry for Culture and Heritage (MCH) as the CWGC’s agent in maintaining war graves in NZ and the Pacific.

Almost 3000 casualties of World War I and World War II are buried in 433 sites throughout NZ. Most died on garrison or training duties or from injury or illness after returning from overseas.

In addition, 570 casualties with no known graves are commemorated on the Auckland Memorial in Devonport and on provincial memorials in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission Chairman Sir Peter Squire visits Karitane Cemetery, north of Dunedin. In the background are the graves of brothers Sapper Charles Woods NZ Engineers and Private George Woods Maori Pioneer Battalion, uncles of Jim Apes who accompanies Sir Peter. Both soldiers served in Egypt, Gallipoli and the Western Front.

MCH staff members inspect each grave every two years. Manager of Heritage Operations, Brodie Stubbs, said, “Some cemeteries are very remote and many of them contain only a single war grave. We visit them all and arrange any maintenance work.”

The CWGC, a non-profit organisation, plays a vital role in remembering the war dead, including thousands of New Zealanders. It cares for the graves of 1.7 million men and women of the Commonwealth forces who died during WWI and WWII.

“The majority of the 29,967 New Zealand war dead are honoured under the Commission’s care in France, Belgium, Gallipoli, Egypt, Greece, Italy and New Caledonia. The CWGC has worked hard to transform bleak graveyards into memorial gardens that are a dignified and fitting tribute to the dead. It does an extraordinary job ensuring families of the war dead can trace their loved ones and pay homage in a place of beauty, not a bleak, lonely graveyard,” Mr Stubbs said.

Remembered, a photographic exhibition celebrating the CWGC’s 90th anniversary, was exhibited in the Hall of Memories, the National War Memorial in Wellington from 23 October to 9 November 2007.

The photographs in the exhibition are taken from the book Remembered: The History of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

MCH holds the printed records of all Commonwealth war dead from both World Wars. The records show where the casualty is buried or commemorated, rank, age and next of kin. All the information can be accessed online at www.cwgc.org