Auckland RSA

03/09/2026

On this day — Merchant Navy Day — we remember with gratitude the service of the several thousand and the sacrifice of hundreds of New Zealanders as merchant seafarers during both World Wars and subsequent wars, including 15-year-old deck boys Thomas Dennis Burke and Edward Hugh Walls, both killed in action during the Second World War when their merchant ship SS Port Hunter was torpedoed in the Atlantic, off Madeira, on 11 July 1942. On the second anniversary of the death of Teddy Walls his mother, sisters and brother placed an in memoriam notice in the newspaper with the following verse:

The call of the sea
Took you from me,
But in memories dear
You are ever near.

Both boys are commemorated on the Merchant Seamen's Memorial at Tower Hill in London and on the Merchant Navy Panel in the World War II Hall of Memories at the Auckland War Memorial Museum.

Ka maumahara tonu tātou ki a rātou
We will remember them



Photo Credits: To the Merchant Navy – Thank you!, WWII poster, EPH-PW-2-67, and Merchant Navy Panels in the World War II Hall of Memories Auckland Museum; Tower Hill Memorial Commonwealth War Graves Commission, photographs New Zealand War Graves Trust.

18/08/2026

Never Forgotten.

🇳🇿 AFGHANISTAN – REMEMBERING OUR FALLEN IN AUGUST

August holds a particularly heavy place in the story of New Zealand’s service in Afghanistan.

Of the 10 New Zealand Defence Force personnel who lost their lives during our Afghanistan commitment, seven died during the month of August.

3 August 2010
🇳🇿 Lieutenant Tim O’Donnell DSD
Killed when his patrol was attacked in Bamyan Province. Tim became the first New Zealand soldier killed in Afghanistan.

19 August 2011
🇳🇿 Corporal Douglas Grant
New Zealand Special Air Service. Killed in Kabul while responding alongside Afghan and coalition forces to an attack on the British Council compound.

Then came August 2012 — one of the darkest months for the New Zealand Army in recent history.

4 August 2012
🇳🇿 Lance Corporal Pralli Durrer
🇳🇿 Lance Corporal Rory Malone NZGM

Both were killed during the fierce Battle of Baghak in Bamyan Province after New Zealand troops went to the assistance of Afghan security forces under attack. Six other New Zealand soldiers were wounded. The subsequent Court of Inquiry described it as one of the most complex firefights involving NZDF personnel since the Vietnam War.

Just 15 days later, tragedy struck again.

19 August 2012
🇳🇿 Corporal Luke Tamatea
🇳🇿 Lance Corporal Jacinda Baker
🇳🇿 Private Richard Harris

Their Humvee was destroyed by an improvised explosive device in Bamyan Province. All three were killed instantly. Jacinda Baker became the first New Zealand servicewoman killed as a result of enemy action since the sinking of the Marquette in 1915.

Five New Zealand soldiers had been killed in Afghanistan in the space of just 15 days.

For their families, friends and comrades, August is not simply another month on the calendar.

It is a month of remembrance.

We remember the seven New Zealanders lost in Afghanistan during August.

Lieutenant Tim O’Donnell DSD
Corporal Douglas Grant
Lance Corporal Pralli Durrer
Lance Corporal Rory Malone NZGM
Corporal Luke Tamatea
Lance Corporal Jacinda Baker
Private Richard Harris

We also remember those who stood beside them, those who were wounded, and every New Zealander who served in Afghanistan.

They served. They sacrificed. We will remember them.

🌿 Lest We Forget.

18/08/2026

On this Vietnam Veterans' Day watch David Blyth's 2019 documentary 'Victor 4 Company' https://www.nzonscreen.com/videos/victor-4-company-2019/

18/08/2026

17/08/2026

17/08/2026

17/08/2026

18 August 1966
VIETNAM VETERANS’ DAY
60TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BATTLE OF LONG TAN

60 years ago today New Zealand gunners from 161 Battery and Australian infantrymen form 6RAR fought together against Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces at the Battle of Long Tan on 18 August 1966. This is Vietnam Veterans’ Day.

On 18 August 1966, D Company of 6 Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment set out to undertake a sweep through an area from which Viet Cong had two days earlier attacked 1st Australian Task Force base at Nui Dat in Phước Tuy Province, South Vietnam. In the Long Tan rubber plantation five kilometres east of Nui Dat they encountered and fought off 2000 Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army troops. During the battle in torrential monsoon rain, D Company held off repeated attacks, with artillery support from 161 Battery and three other Australian and United States batteries at Nui Dat. Pinned down in the rubber plantation with D Company, a New Zealand artillery forward observer party, consisting of Captain Maurice Stanley, Lance Bombardier Murray Broomhall and Lance Corporal Willie Walker, helped direct devastating artillery fire on the enemy.

During the Vietnam War more than 3000 New Zealand military personnel served and 37 died on active service. Two civilians serving with the surgical and Red Cross teams also lost their lives.

We honour your service and remember your sacrifice.



Photos:

1. New Zealand gunners from 161 Battery load a L5 Howitzer gun into a M113 armoured personnel carrier at Nui Dat, ca. 1966. Photograph David Roberts (1937–2005)

2. Commemoration ceremony and dedication of Long Tan memorial cross, 1969. Photograph Noel Bell (1932–2018)

15/08/2026

81 years ago today VJ Day in Auckland.

Photo Credit: Two soldiers with beer bottles in hand seated on the corner of Queen and Wynyard Streets, Auckland, during VJ (Victory over Japan) celebrations, August 1945. Some years later, the photographer, Alton Francis, recalled that he had been working in his photographic business on the second floor of the Professional Chambers in High Street when he heard a noise in the streets, and rushed outside to see what it was, not forgetting to take his twin reflex Rolliecord camera with him. Victory celebrations, Auckland, 1945. Photographer Francis, Alton, 1926-1997. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections Footprints 02464

29/07/2026

Our New Zealand-made Remembrance Poppy has made it all the way to Anzac Cove, Gallipoli, Türkiye.

We will remember them.

27/07/2026

27 July 1953
KOREAN WAR ARMISTICE

"Officers and men cheered, whistled and shouted; carefully hoarded liquor supplies were opened, and majors, subalterns, sergeants and privates toasted one another in tin mugs full to the brim with neat spirits."

— Recollection of the Korean War Armistice by a Korean War veteran in 2003.

The post-Armistice headquarters of the 16th Field Regiment Royal New Zealand Artillery (photographed at the time of the Armistice) were based near the Imjin River, on what became known as ‘Kiwi Hill’ due to its large emblem of a kiwi.

The ‘kiwi’ emblem continued a tradition that had originated in 1919 with the ‘Chalk Kiwi’ constructed by New Zealand soldiers at Sling Camp in England after the Armistice.

The last units of Kayforce finally withdrew four years later on 27 July 1957. After that New Zealand was represented by a military liaison officer in a role that continues to this day. No peace settlement has ever been achieved.

45 New Zealand servicemen lost their lives in Korea between 1951 and 1957.

This Roll of Honour lists New Zealanders who were killed in action or died of wounds or from other causes during New Zealand’s involvement in Korea (1950–1957). It includes two New Zealanders (Privates B.C. Quintall and J.L. McKandry) who served with the Australian forces in Korea. * denotes that they died or were accidentally killed in New Zealand (Signalman W.T.L.R. Hamilton and Gunner G.R.M. Thomas).

GNR Allnatt, Edward William 26.11.1951
Gunner Bailey, Allwyn 17.11.1951
Gunner Berry, Peter Rex 17.2.1953
Driver Burborough, John Ewing 4.11.1954
Gunner Carson, Ramon Deane 6.6.1953
Gunner Clark, Ivo Raymond 5.6.1954
Gunner Compton, Robert Edward 24.11.1951
Corporal Cook, Gordon Brian 26.5.1952
Gunner Cooper, Leslie John 13.10.1951
Ordinary Seaman Cooper, William Henry 29.7.1950
Gunner Dickson, Wallace Bruce 4.10.1951
Second Lieutenant Fielden, Dennis Siddall 24.4.1951
Gunner Frith, Mervyn Frederick 5.11.1951
Gunner Griffiths, Eric James 17.2.1953
Signalman Hamilton, William Todd Lawson Richardson 22.10.1950*
Driver Humm, Herbert Lester 21.10.1955
Gunner Jackson, Donald Cameron 27.11.1951
Warrant Officer Class 2 Long, Richard George 13.1.1951
Gunner MacDonald, Ronald 13.1.1951
Able Seaman Marchioni, Robert Edward 25.8.1951
Corporal May, Arthur 21.5.1954
Gunner McDonald, Ray 15.11.1952
Private McKandry, John Lawrence 14.5.1953
Sergeant McLaughlin, Edward Michael Noel 30.11.1954
Gunner McRae, John 3.5.1953
Telegraphist Mollison, Peter James 29.10.1957
Gunner Mortimer, Raymond Herbert 14.9.1952
Sergeant Murray, Lyn 27.12.1952
Signalman Ngatai, Dickson 28.1.1953
Gunner O'Neil, Thomas Mervyn 13.9.1952
Corporal Parker, Frederick William 17.3.1953
Signalman Percival, Frank Osmond 6.12.1951
Lance Corporal Poynton, Frederick Terence 15.9.1951
Private Quintall, Brian Charles 10.9.1952
Sergeant Reid, Reginald James 3.5.1953
Driver Rodgers, Douglas Neville 27.12.1953
Gunner Scahill, James Martin Conrad 18.11.1951
Lance Bombardier Shortland, Joseph 17.2.1953
Able Seaman Taiatini, Thomas Te Hau 23.8.1955
Driver Taylor, Colin Franklin 17.5.1954
Gunner Thomas, Graham Rangi Morrison 29.8.1952*
Lieutenant Unsworth, Robert James 12.1.1953
Sergeant Vugler, Cedric John 11.2.1951
Able Seaman Waitapu, Dennis 25.11.1955
Gunner Watson, Jefford Rex 18.11.1951
Driver Whangapirita, Bryce 23.6.1952
Major Wicksteed, Barton 4.8.1952

KA MAUMAHARA TONU TĀTOU KI A RĀTOU
WE WILL REMEMBER THEM

Photo: Gunners from the 16th Field Regiment Royal New Zealand Artillery Battery pose for a photograph in front of Kiwi Hill at the regiment's headquarters in Korea, ca. 1953.

NZ Defence Force Royal New Zealand Navy New Zealand Army 16th Field Regiment, RNZA Veterans' Affairs New Zealand Auckland Museum