Cenotaph Stories

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Worth a thousand words
Online Cenotaph encourages the contribution of information, documents and photos, as well as personal stories that portray the experiences of New Zealand service personnel. These photographs are some of the images that have recently been shared by whānau to their loved ones Online Cenotaph records.
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Death in the Spring
By Gail Romano
Associate Curator, History
In this article, Gail Romano writes on the life of Private Lemuel John Bagnall known as Jack, and the Bagnall family of Auckland. Jack served with the New Zealand Railway Engineers in Samoa, and then later with the Auckland Regiment, during the German Spring Offensive.
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A collie for the service corps
Gail Romano, Associate Curator History
On this Purple Poppy Day, Associate Curator, Gail Romano acknowledges the contribution of the mascot Sam. Sam was ‘a handsome English collie dog’ gifted to the Canterbury section of the New Zealand Army Service Corps during WWI.
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Bobby Newson
Madison Pine
Collection Technician, Research Support
Robert Newson, known as Bobby is a beloved member of the Tāmaki Paenga Hira whanau. We sat down with Bobby earlier this year, to chat about his experiences with the New Zealand Army. We share his story in commemoration of Armistice Day, where we come together to remember the service of New Zealanders in war and peacekeeping operations.
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A Year in Review: Online Cenotaph 2021
Online Cenotaph, Victoria Passau and Madison Pine
It has been a busy year for the Online Cenotaph team, updating and creating thousands of records, working on numerous transcription projects with our Visitor Host and Volunteers, and working with all our researchers and contributors. Here, we share our accomplishments and highlights of 2021.
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September Somme
Martin Collett and Shaun Higgins
Collection Manager Documentary Heritage and Curator, Pictorial
On 15 September 1916 New Zealand soldiers joined the Battle of the Somme, one of the bloodiest battles of the time. Letters and images from those involved tell us of the horrors.
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Dear Mother this war is a bugger
Gail Romano
Associate Curator, History
When Private Donald Melville Wood Brown wrote home in June 1916, quoting a fellow soldier, he had changed his mind about soldiering. Sadly, his war ended when he was killed in action three months later on the Somme.
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'So what the hell'
By Gail Romano
Associate Curator, History
During the Battle of Britain there were indeed many New Zealanders contributing in important ways, ‘being New Zealanders’ both on the ground and in the air. By the end of July 1940 New Zealand’s Minister of Defence Fred Jones was noting 710 New Zealand pilots were in the RAF. In this article Gail Romano shares some stories of the New Zealanders who served in the Battle of Britain.
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Dean Anaki and the Merchant Marine
Dr Andrea Low, Associate Curator, Contemporary World
To commemorate Merchant Navy Day Dr Andrea Low interviewed Niuean born, Dean Lupo Anaki about his experience working in the New Zealand Merchant Navy from 1957 until 1973. You can see more of Dean’s story in Tāmaki Herenga Waka – Stories of Auckland.
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Stranded on Emirau
Gail Romano, Associate Curator History
The first large group of New Zealanders taken prisoner during the Second World War were not military personnel but civilians. On Merchant Navy Day, we remember these events in the south Pacific over the turn of 1940-41, as we reflect on the important, risky yet subsequently under-recognised role played by our merchant seamen during the First and Second World Wars.
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