The Grave Guardians

01/08/2026

very well said! professional, experienced and qualified monumental masons do the work on CWGC headstones.

27/07/2026

A massive hearty happy 100th birthday wishes to Jim Blackburn. An absolute legend in the RNZN. Nothing but admiration for you Sir.

15/07/2026

image credit the Canadian War Museum

10/07/2026

Finding Families ~
A Grave Guardians historical research project

Please feel free to share this post. Every share increases the chance that it reaches someone who remembers Robert or knows his family.

**Robert Herald Holmes (1890–1957)**

Born in Wellington on 1 August 1890, Robert Herald Holmes was the son of Robert Henry Holmes and Selina Beatrice Holmes (née Williams). Before the First World War he lived in Katikati and was already undertaking compulsory military training and serving with the Territorial Force in Waihi.

Enlisting for overseas service during the First World War, Robert served as Rifleman 42101 with the New Zealand Rifle Brigade. He embarked aboard HMNZT "Ruapehu" with the Reinforcements and served on the Western Front, where he was wounded in action near Étaples, France. His injuries led to his discharge as no longer fit for further military service, and on returning to New Zealand he spent time recovering at the Rotorua Convalescent Home.

Following the war, Robert married Ethel Eliza Dunne, and together they raised a family. In later years they lived in Thames before Robert spent his final years in Auckland, where he passed away on 8 December 1957.

The Grave Guardians are hoping to reconnect with Robert's family as part of ongoing historical research. If you are related to Robert Herald Holmes, or know someone who may be, we would be very grateful if you could send us a private message.

Photo credit : Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph
HMNZTS 79 "Ruapehu" 23rd reinforcements souvenir

10/07/2026

Finding Families ~
A Grave Guardians historical research project

Please feel free to share this post. Every share increases the chance that it reaches someone who remembers this person or knows their family.

**Frederick Steele Miller Murray (1871–1952)**

Born at Mahurangi on 20 August 1871, Frederick Steele Miller Murray was the son of John Mitchell Murray and Georgia Hannah Dorothea Murray (née Miller). A gifted sportsman, he represented Auckland in both rugby and cricket before becoming **All Black No. 29**, touring Australia with the New Zealand team in 1893 and again in 1897.

Following his playing career, Frederick continued to serve the game through the Auckland Rugby Union as a selector and administrator. In recognition of his significant contribution, he was made a Life Member of the Auckland Rugby Union in 1905.

Away from the sporting field, Frederick enjoyed a distinguished professional career as a pharmaceutical chemist, first registering in 1893 and remaining on the New Zealand register for many years. He later married Dora Isabel Whitson, and together they had a son, Frederick Gordon Murray.

Frederick passed away in Parnell on 5 August 1952.

The Grave Guardians are hoping to reconnect with Frederick's family as part of ongoing historical research. If you are related to Frederick Steele Miller Murray, or know someone who may be, we would be very grateful if you could send us a private message.

Photo credit : https://stats.allblacks.com

10/07/2026

Finding Families ~
A Grave Guardians historical research project

Please feel free to share this post. Every share increases the chance that it reaches someone who remembers this person or knows their family.

**Guy Geoffrey Shanks (1918–2015)**

Born in Helensville on 31 March 1918 to Naomi and Allen William Shanks, Guy Geoffrey Shanks spent much of his early life in the Kaipara district. During the Second World War he was employed as a surfaceman with the New Zealand Railways at Kaukapakapa and later Wellsford, appearing on wartime ballot rolls while undertaking this essential work.

In later years, Guy made his life farming in Northland, working as a shepherd and stockman in places including Kawaka, Motatau, Pokapu, Kaikohe and Moerewa before eventually returning to the Kaipara district. He spent his retirement in Parakai, where he remained until his passing on 20 November 2015.

We are undertaking historical research relating to this individual and would greatly appreciate the opportunity to speak confidentially with family members. If you are related to Guy, or know someone who may be, please send us a private message. We would be very grateful for your help.

Photo credit : ancestry family trees; Bruce Shanks.

08/07/2026

Some honours are earned not through a single achievement, but through years of quiet dedication.

Today we are delighted to celebrate Cate Walker and her husband Paul Morrissey, who have been formally awarded Honorary Permanent Residency of the Cook Islands in recognition of their extraordinary service.

This honour reflects more than a decade of commitment that began in 2015 and has touched countless lives, families and histories.

Together, Cate and Paul have worked tirelessly to preserve the military heritage of the Cook Islands. They built the Cook Islands Military History Project from the ground up, creating the Cook Islands Online Cenotaph to ensure the stories of Cook Islands servicemen and women are preserved and accessible for generations to come. Along the way, Cate and Paul have brought together an extraordinary team of dedicated volunteers and supporters whose shared commitment has helped transform that vision into a remarkable and enduring legacy.

Their work has extended far beyond research. They have been instrumental in securing the posthumous award of medals to Cook Islands veterans whose service had gone unrecognised, helping restore long-overdue acknowledgement to those who served.
They have also devoted enormous effort to the restoration and care of Nikao Cemetery, ensuring that it remains a place of dignity and remembrance. For Cate, this work carries a deeply personal connection, as it is where her mother is buried.

Closer to home in Aotearoa New Zealand, Cate's research and advocacy were central to the recognition of O'Neill's Point Cemetery as a Category 1 Historic Place, acknowledging its exceptional significance as the resting place of so many Cook Islands soldiers who died while serving and training at Narrow Neck during the First World War.

Those of us who have had the privilege of working alongside Cate and Paul know that none of this has ever been about recognition. It has always been about the people whose stories deserved to be remembered, the families who deserved answers, and the history that deserved to be preserved with care and integrity.

The Grave Guardians are honoured to call you both friends and colleagues. We have seen first-hand the countless hours, the determination, and the compassion that have gone into your work.

Congratulations, Cate and Paul. This recognition is richly deserved, and we could not be happier to see your years of service acknowledged by the people and nation you have worked so faithfully to honour.

May your work continue to inspire others, and may the stories you have helped preserve never be forgotten.

Cook Island Military History:
https://www.cookislandsonlinecenotaph.com/

https://www.facebook.com/cookislandsmilitaryhistory

https://www.youtube.com/

Nikao Cemetery Restoration Project:
https://www.facebook.com/nikaocemeteryrestorationproject

And if you'd like to see what Cate and Katrina are doing in Australia for unmarked veterans, have a look at the Australian Remembrance Army, an initiative founded by these two remarkable women in 2020, in Brisbane, Australia.
https://www.facebook.com/australianremembrancearmy

https://www.australianremembrancearmy.com/

In 2016 we began documenting and GPS'ing the graves and headstones of Cook Islands World War One soldiers. Our journey continues . . . .

02/07/2026

Sometimes you meet someone who understands a story almost before you've finished telling it.

A few weeks ago, I received a message from playwright Paul Percy.

He had found Alfred Michael Hall's story and after a few text messages, we decided we needed to talk.

What I expected to be a brief conversation became well over an hour of thoughtful discussion about remembrance, history, war, and what survives long after the guns fall silent.

Paul is a former Army armourer, a playwright, and the writer behind The Ground Remembers Us — an original absurdist theatre production that explores not simply the battles of the First World War, but the consequences that continue to echo through generations.

As we talked, it became clear that Paul hadn't simply read Alfred's story.

He had understood it.

Not just Alfred's courage at Gallipoli, Passchendaele and Le Quesnoy.

But the quieter part of his journey.

The years that followed.

The wounds that could not be seen.

The silence.

The grief.

The century during which his resting place remained without a name.

When I finally opened the programme for The Ground Remembers Us, I found Alfred there.

Not as a footnote.

Not as an historical curiosity.

But as part of the story the production is telling the world.

I don't know that I have quite found the words to explain what that felt like.

For Kevin.

For Lorraine.

For the wider Hall whānau.

For everyone who has walked beside Alfred's journey.

After all these years, there is now almost no possibility that Alfred will ever be forgotten to the world again.

His story has travelled from an unmarked grave in rural Wairarapa, to newspapers across New Zealand, to France, and now onto the international stage through the voices of young performers.

There is something profoundly hopeful about that.

These young actors, only eighteen to twenty years of age, are carrying stories that belong to another century.

Not to glorify war.

But to ask difficult questions about its human cost.

To remind audiences that survival is not always the end of suffering.

To remind us that remembrance must be more than ceremony.

During our conversation, Paul spoke about the way the ground remembers.

That thought has stayed with me.

The ground remembers.

Families remember.

Communities remember.

Sometimes stories become quiet, waiting for someone to listen again.

And when they do, they find new voices.

Kevin Hall never stopped asking how he could restore dignity to his great-uncle. He never stopped searching for someone who could help him complete a journey that had remained unfinished for generations. Walking beside Kevin and his family has been a great privilege for us.

Now, through the extraordinary vision of Paul Percy and the remarkable young cast of The Ground Remembers Us, Alfred's story will continue its journey in a way none of us could ever have imagined.

One hundred years after his passing, his life is no longer remembered only by those who loved him.

It is helping another generation ask what war leaves behind.

Paul, thank you.

Thank you for listening so carefully.

Thank you for recognising not only Alfred's military service, but his humanity.

Most of all, thank you for ensuring that, through art, another generation is willing to ask the difficult questions about war.

About what it asks of young people.

About what it leaves behind.

About those who returned home carrying wounds that could not be seen.

And about why remembrance must always be more than simply looking backwards.

One hundred years ago, Alfred's story fell quiet.

Today, it continues.

02/07/2026

Some journeys begin with a question.

For Alfred Michael Hall MM, that question did not begin with war, or even with an unmarked grave.

It began years later, when Kevin Hall was given Alfred's service certificate after the passing of his father, Peter. Looking at the name on the certificate, Kevin began asking questions. Who was Alfred? Why had he never heard of him? Why did no one seem to know his story?

The answers came from his mother, Lorraine.

She shared the stories she had heard from Charlie Hall, Alfred's younger brother. Charlie had carried the quiet grief of knowing that his brother, despite surviving Gallipoli, the Western Front, and helping liberate Le Quesnoy, rested in an unmarked grave.

Kevin decided that wasn't how Alfred's story should end.

For many years, he searched for a way forward. He wasn't looking for recognition. He simply wanted someone who knew the pathway and could help him restore the honour, dignity and respect that Alfred had earned.

When our paths finally crossed, we began walking that journey together.

As the research unfolded, so too did Alfred's life.

We discovered not only the decorated soldier awarded the Military Medal for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty, but the son, the brother, the young man who briefly found love in France after the liberation of Le Quesnoy, and the man who returned home carrying burdens that few of his generation were ever given the opportunity to understand.

The weight of war does not always loosen its grip simply because the guns fall silent.

For many veterans, the hardest battles began after they came home.

Alfred was one of them.

Shortly after the ninety-ninth anniversary of Alfred's passing, his military headstone was finally placed in Tīnui Cemetery.

Then, in the one hundredth year of his passing, family, friends, veterans, clergy, the Tīnui community, the New Zealand Defence Force, the French Embassy, local representatives, and many others came together to remember him.

This was never simply about unveiling a headstone.

It was about returning a man to our shared collective memory.

One of the greatest joys of this journey has been discovering that Alfred's story is still unfolding.

We continue to search for the missing chapters of his life, including the story of the young French woman from Le Quesnoy whom he married after the war. Somewhere there may still be photographs, letters, or family memories waiting quietly to be rediscovered.

We hope one day they will find their way home too.

Alfred's journey has also led us to others. While researching his life, more forgotten veterans and unmarked graves have come to light. Even now, Alfred continues to serve by helping us find those whose stories still wait patiently to be told.

To Kevin, Lorraine, Carolyn, Rachel, Matthew, and the entire Hall whānau...

Thank you.

Thank you for trusting us to walk beside you.

Kevin never gave up.

He simply kept searching for the way forward until Alfred's place in our shared memory was restored.

It has been one of the greatest privileges to share that journey with you.

In the 100th year of his passing
we remember Alfred Michael Hall.
Returning to him
dignity, honour, respect, and compassion.
A beloved brother and son.
A friend. A man.
Gone from our sight, but never from our memory.
Now and forever,
we will remember him.

30/05/2026

Reece always writes such emotionally charged articles, that draw you to the very last word.

After almost a century in an unmarked grave, Alfred Michael Hall has been remembered as a liberator and for his bravery.