Public to comment on Napier Roll of Honour names criteria

The War Memorial on Marine Parade in Napier. Photo / Paul Taylor

The public will next month have a chance to say which names should be on the Napier Roll of Honour - and how they should be chosen.

The roll of honour plaques were embroiled in a months-long emotional saga after the Napier City Council removed them, and the Eternal Flame from the Napier Conference Centre during its multimillion-dollar redevelopment.

The memorial items were to be installed in a "more appropriate location" but this plan was not widely known.

With a new memorial planned, next month the Napier City Council will hold a series of workshops which would bring together veterans, families of the war dead, and the public to discuss various views on what the roll of honour criteria will include.

"While the Roll of Honour is considered the most important, fundamental and sacred part of the overall project, it is also likely to be the most challenging and emotive," Napier City Council memorial project manager Charles Ropitini said.

The existing 600 names were originally compiled using casualty lists reported from 1942, and the roll was updated in 1995, which meant some soldiers' names were missing from the roll of honour, while others who survived injury were included.

"There will be names from the previous roll that may come off, whereas others who were not noted on our Roll of Honour - and should have been - will be added," Mr Ropitini added.

A steering group set up to oversee the War Memorial project, consisting of councillors, RSA representatives, Napier City Council staff, and with architect Guy Natusch as a heritage adviser, met in December to progress the design project.

"The group prioritised these workshops in order to develop an appropriate and fitting Roll of Honour.

"The challenge for the group is that there are no definitive rules about the names and inscriptions on war memorials. Communities have used all sorts of criteria to decide who is commemorated, which conflicts are commemorated and the style in which these details appear from memorial to memorial.

"That is why some war memorials only include those who fought and died, whilst others include those who fought and survived. It is our own community's criteria for their memorial that will underpin the design and presentation of the Roll of Honour and perpetual flame."

Mr Ropitini said once criteria were agreed, Napier Library researchers and MTG archivists would research and compile the Roll of Honour, with specialist external input where needed.

"It has to be acknowledged that this is a not a quick nor an easy process.

"We have an opportunity to get this right – an opportunity we're taking on with great reverence and respect. The enormity of this task is not lost on us and we're committed to ensuring we have met the criteria set by veterans, families and the public before we jump into commissioning the plaques."

During the research phase it is anticipated that the stories of Napier's war dead would also be compiled for an MTG education programme to be linked to the future memorial. In addition, some early design stages will be able to be completed in parallel to the Roll of Honour criteria development and research phase.

Napier Mayor Bill Dalton pointed out that this would be a specific programme solely aimed at ensuring the names on the Roll of Honour were correct.

"It's not about the design of a war memorial or anything like that. This is a specific project to get the names accurate on the Wall of Remembrance."

Roll of Honour workshops would take place at 10am at the Napier RSA on Wednesday, January 24, at 10am, as well as at 5.30pm on Wednesday, January 24, at the Taradale RSA, and at 5.30pm, Thursday, January 25, at Greenmeadows East Hall.