Porirua residents are being invited to learn more about local servicemen buried at Porirua Cemetery during War Graves Week, with a free guided tour on Saturday, May 23.
The tour will be led by Porirua historian Allan Dodson, who has compiled many accounts of war service from the region through his Porirua War Stories website.
It will begin at 10am at the entrance to Porirua Cemetery, off Kenepuru Drive.
Dodson will highlight the stories of several servicemen interred at the cemetery, including Corporal John “Jack” Richard Hoare, Private Thomas Gladstone Hook, Private Thomas Bruce Wallace, Private William Pentney and Trooper David Lister.
Hoare, Hook and Wallace are officially listed as having Commonwealth War Graves.
Dodson said War Graves Week, which runs from May 16 to 24, was a chance for the community to reflect on the service and sacrifice of people connected to Porirua.
“What many of us are trying to do by recording the personal stories of those that died in the world wars is maintain their memory as best we can,” Dodson said.
“The service and sacrifice should be preserved and never forgotten.”
He said war graves were not only found overseas or on former battlefields.
“War graves are not just in faraway lands and battlefields but in local cemeteries for us to explore, focusing on local men who died in service,” he said.
“It’s interesting and poignant to hear those stories.”
Porirua Cemetery is a small historic cemetery with 3546 interments, including local residents and former Porirua Mental Hospital patients.
There are 165 veterans known to be interred or commemorated there, with service ranging from the New Zealand Wars to the Korean War.
Four men, two from World War I and two from World War II, are memorialised on family graves at the cemetery but are buried overseas.
The cemetery tour is free and registration is not required. Attendees should meet at the entrance to Porirua Cemetery, off Kenepuru Drive, before 10am on Saturday, May 23.