Latest from 100 Kiwi Stories from World War 1

High spirits - then the reality

On board the troop ship Aparima in 1915, Neville Hawkes was in high spirits as he penned a postcard to his little brother.

100 Kiwi Stories: Chaplains died alongside troops

41: The Gallipoli landings occurred on April 25, 1915. It was eight months of bloodshed before evacuations began in December.

100 Kiwi Stories: Sallies brought comfort to hurt

39: In August 1915, an Anzac shot through the eyes recognised one comforting voice as he lay close to death in a Cairo hospital.

Veterans stick to the 'happy stuff'

For 89-year-old retired naval officer Frank Sanft, his most memorable time in military service was taking part in the Normandy landings in 1944.

100 Kiwi Stories: Teens had little chance of survival

38: The torpedo struck in the dead of night and shook its target - a steel-hulled steamer under the control of the British Admiralty - from stem to stern.

100 Kiwi Stories: Family devastated by our bloodiest battle

37: Leading into Ypres, the village of Passchendaele today is home to just 3000 people. In July 1917, the tiny town was the site of 500,000 casualties in an offensive of Anzac and other Allied troops against Germany.

100 Kiwi Stories: Tongan soldiers struggled in weather

36: It's easy to commemorate every Tongan who fought for New Zealand in the Great War - just 94 signed up to fight for the tiny country. Eleven died from combat, illness and accidents.

100 Kiwi Stories: Sub sank ship full of nurses

35: Hundreds of vessels were sunk by U-boats and Allied submarines during World War I, from the Mediterranean to the South Atlantic to the Pacific.

100 Kiwi Stories: Trench raids 'warfare at its most primitive'

34: It's said the greatest technological advances come in wartime. Indeed, World War I saw the invention of tanks, flamethrowers, tracer bullets, depth charges, aircraft carriers, and even sanitary napkins.

100 Kiwi Stories: From Boer War to Palestine

26: When World War I came, Kiwis were ready. The first foundations of a homegrown army were already in place.

100 Kiwi Stories: Grand uniform for service in far-flung India

25: In the studio photograph Lieutenant Kenneth Thomson wears the splendid military dress of a British officer in the Indian Army.

Day NZ took Samoa from Germany

A century ago today, Kiwi soldiers arrived in German Samoa ready for battle. The Herald is live-streaming the national ceremony to mark the 100th anniversary.

Editorial: World War I's first casualty gets his due

For generations that have not known war, our stories from exactly a century ago are an insight into what it would be like.

WWI: Death removed the burden

WWI: Honour for first war hero

The headstone, its inscription concealed for decades under a coat of lichen, bears witness to the past.

100 Kiwi Stories: Soldier recognised as first Kiwi casualty of WWI

A young soldier who died exactly 100 years ago has been officially acknowledged as the first New Zealand casualty of WWI.

100 Kiwi Stories: Living memorial to the fallen

21: Towey St in Oamaru could be in any small town in New Zealand. But what makes this street special are the trees that line the grass verge.

100 Kiwi Stories: Chinese soldier a hero to mates

20: Private Herbert Stanley Sing was in a dugout on the Western Front in July 1916 when enemy shells rained down.