Names on a Monument - Maraekākaho WW1

Second-Hand (Hardcover)

Excellent condition

Welcome! If you are reading this collection of stories because you have a relative or relatives whose names are on the Maraekākaho War Memorial

I hope that the information here adds to what you already knew and makes you want to delve deeper into their past, which is also your past.

When I began this project, I wanted to know if I could find out anything at all about who the 117 people named on the WW1 section of the memorial. I hadn't imagined that there would be so much to discover!

Many of the families in Maraekākaho were linked, not only by the war, but by marriage, workplace or early history and every individual's life that I delved into was unique and fascinating. If this is true of Maraekākaho, then it's likely to be true of every village, town and city in New Zealand, and the same goes for every other country which was embroiled in this dreadful war. Wherever there is a war memorial, there are stories just waiting to be discovered and told.

When you have read your own ancestor's story, please take the time to read some of the others, and you will find, as I did, that their stories form a snapshot of life in New Zealand in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Each one adds a different dimension to what we already know about the history of Maraekākaho.

More than 100 people in the prime of life from this community alone had their futures changed forever by a war which killed 20 million soldiers and left a similar number with physical or mental scars.

The causes of the war have been well analysed and documented as has every aspect of four years of military campaigns, battles. losses and gains.