Special events organised for Anzac Day celebrations in Hawke's Bay

Taradale RSA Vice President Sharon Nelson with their wire mesh soldier statue that will be on display in the RSA. Photo / Warren Buckland

Anzac Day in Hawke's Bay is set to be a day of remembrance, and a day to remember, with special events and guests at various memorials around the region.

Along with annual dawn services and memorials, other events have been organised to remember our fallen soldiers.

Central Hawke's Bay will start things off with a special service at the Forest of Memories on Pukeora Hill 5pm on Wednesday.

Each year for Anzac Day, CHB's RSAs have been putting out 214 crosses at Nelly Jull Park in Waipawa to remember each man from the region that fought overseas and didn't make it home.

Last year they commemorated the 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended World War I.

After the event the crosses were burned. The ashes gathered are set to be scattered at this year's event.

Mayor Alex Walker will play "Sunset" on the bugle to mark the special occasion.

"Each year we have put up this memorial to our men, and now it is time to put them to rest," Waipukurau and Districts RSA president Janet Castell said.

"A spot has been chosen in the Forest of Memories where the ashes of the crosses will be interred and marked with a stone and a plaque.

"We are putting in steps and will be putting a seat at the site so people can sit and take a moment ... the site is towards the top of the hill, near a copse of European pines and it has a magnificent view over the hills and up the valley. Many of the men we lost were farmers and this seems appropriate."

One Anzac Day service will have a special guest.

The Italian Ambassador to New Zealand, Fabrizio Marcelli, will attend Kohupatiki Marae in Clive for the 28th Māori Battalion Ngāti Kahungunu D Company Anzac Day service.

Of the 29,967 New Zealand soldiers that lost their lives in World War I and World War II, there are 2157 New Zealanders that lie at rest in Italy.

"It will be an opportunity to say thank you to the Italian people face-to-face for looking after 'our boys'," organiser of the event Matthew Bennett said.

The ambassador will be escorted on to the marae by Amici d'Italia, the Hawke's Bay Friends of Italy.

Service will begin at 12pm on Anzac Day at Kohupatiki Marae, with 400–500 people expected to attend.

Over in Taradale, the Taradale RSA has had a wire mesh statue of a soldier donated to the association for Anzac Day by local member and artist Corrina McTavish.

"It's an amazing piece and it is special for us to be able to have on display," Taradale RSA Vice President Sharon Nelson said.

Like every Anzac Day, it is a time to also learn more about the soldiers who fought in the wars and about their experiences and the ordeals they faced.

MTG Hawke's Bay will be holding a special free screening of the animated war drama film 25 April at 2pm on Thursday.

Using graphic novel-like animation the film brings First World War experiences weaving together animated "interviews" based on the diaries, letters and memoirs of six New Zealanders who were actually there.

The film tells the compelling and heart-wrenching tale of war, friendship, loss and redemption using the words of those who experienced it first-hand.