Rotorua community invited to be part of restoring service graves

The Rotorua community is invited to take part in a project of remembrance and respect.

The New Zealand Remembrance Army (NZRA) was formed on January 1 2019, and its mission is for every service grave in the country to be cleaned and restored.

Its aim is to raise the standard of New Zealand's war graves to be the same or higher than those overseas.

The NZRA will work with veteran organisations, iwi, hapū and marae, schools, cadets forces, and anyone who has an interest in helping with the project.

The local public is invited to a meeting tomorrowat 7pm at the Te Runanga Tea Rooms to find out how they can help with this project in the Rotorua region. There will be a light supper.

Rick Thame, New Zealand Remembrance Army Rotorua regional co-ordinator, said the more people who volunteered the smoother the project would run.

He said the mission was to restore all service graves within the Rotorua region to a single standard by December 31, 2022.

It is hoped that once completed, any New Zealander or visitor to their local cemetery, memorials or plots would be satisfied that service graves were well cared for.

"This is a project about the people who built our nation, built our region, built our city, but mostly it's a project about respect."

He says he would like people to come together to support the New Zealand Remembrance Army's efforts to restore the graves of our people.