All names on new Hikurangi memorial

Hikurangi and district's war dead can finally be honoured properly after a new war memorial was unveiled in the township.

The town's sandstone memorial for the area's World War I dead was washed away in a flood in 1926 and never replaced, Hikurangi and Districts RSA president Alan Riceman said.

As well, Hikurangi's World War II memorial was incomplete with some names omitted while the names in the war memorial hall were different from the ones on the memorial at the the Hikurangi School and the Hikurangi Museum, Mr Riceman said.

So the RSA branch decided, with the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli landings approaching, a new memorial to mark both wars was needed and donations were sought.

Their efforts were rewarded on Thursday when the new memorial was unveiled at Hikurangi Primary School in front of the students.

Mr Riceman said it was a humbling occasion and the town and surrounding area was honoured to have the memorial in place in time for the centenary.

The names of those who died in WWI are listed on one side of the memorial and those from WWII on the other. The three services badges - army, navy and air force - are on the top alongside the badge of the RSA.

"It's great that we have finally got a memorial in place to honour all those brave people. Now we can make sure they are remembered appropriately and that they will never be forgotten. At long last we can commemorate Anzac Day the right way."