White crosses on waterfront will mark armistice centenary

The Field of Remembrance at Mount Maunganui Cenotaph in 2017. Photo Lee Switzer/supplied

One hundred and nine white crosses will be installed on Tauranga's waterfront later this month to commemorate the centenary of the World War I armistice.

The Tauranga City Council announced that the crosses would be progressively installed between October 17 and November 8, each new group representing a month of the four-year war and the soldiers from Tauranga died in that time.

The public was invited to join cadets from the Western Bay of Plenty Cadet Unit in bringing the crosses out at dawn.

The waterfront will also host a weather dependant exhibition entitled Homecomings: From Tauranga to the Trenches.

Open from October 12 to November 8, 9.30am to 3.30am, it will explore the experiences and stories of the soldiers that made it home to New Zealand.

On November 11, Armistice Day, there will be an 11am centenary service at Memorial Park marking the day and time the war ended in 1918.

There will be two minutes silence, large-scale poppies designed by local artists, and the 109 white crosses united.