Merchant Navy sailors were honoured with a ceremony and wreath laying at Queenspark in Whanganui yesterday.
In New Zealand, Britain and other Commonwealth countries, September 3 is Merchant Navy Day.
The date commemorates the sinking of the first British merchant ship in 1939, just hours after World War II was declared.
Minister David Beberfield called for one minute of silence to honour the 140 New Zealand Merchant seamen, who lost their lives during WWII, who were the "unsung heroes" of the war effort.
Mr Beberfield read from the poem Heroes by David Partridge which pays tribute to the efforts of Merchant Navy personnel who kept the food lines open "from Malta to the Cape" during the war.