New Zealand remembers

New Zealand’s Minister of Defence visited the CWGC’s Buttes New British Cemetery yesterday to honour the country’s soldiers lost 100 years ago, as part of a First World War battlefields tour in Belgium.

He attended a short ceremony in the cemetery and laid a wreath at the Buttes New British Cemetery (N.Z.) Memorial, which commemorates more than 370 men of the New Zealand Division who died in the Polygon Wood sector between September 1917 and May 1918, and who have no known grave.

The memorial in Buttes New British Cemetery is one of seven memorials in France and Belgium which bears the names of New Zealand soldiers who died on the Western Front and whose graves are not known. It also commemorates Corporal Percy Joseph Jory, of 1st Battalion Canterbury Regiment, New Zealand Expeditionary Force, who was killed in action on 14 February 1918 – 100 years to the day of the visit.

The Honourable Ron Mark was accompanied by New Zealand Ambassador to Belgium Gregory Andrews, Deputy Secretary of Defence Tony Lynch, the Commander Joint Forces New Zealand Major General Tim Gall, Brigadier Chris Parsons and Navy Captain Shane Arndell. They were joined by the Commission’s Carl Liversage.

The delegation also attended the Last Post service at the CWGC’s Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial.