Pt Chevalier Memorial RSA

Support in Auckland - The RSA is holding veteran support clinics at the Hibiscus Coast Community RSA over the next week.

If you're in the area, come along and chat to one of our team and see what support you might be entitled to. You don't need to be a member to access support from the RSA - we're here to help all who have served.

If you're unsure what happens at our support clinics - you can find more information here: https://bit.ly/support_clinic

🇳🇿 TODAY WE REMEMBER — NURSE CATHERINE BLACKIE
New Zealand Army Nursing Service | Gallipoli, 1915

On 12 September 1915, New Zealand nurse Catherine Blackie, of Dunedin, sat aboard the hospital ship Dongola and wrote home to her family.

What she described was an extraordinary first-hand account of nursing during the Gallipoli campaign — overcrowded ships, desperately wounded young soldiers, disease, death, submarines, warships and the constant movement of casualties from the peninsula.

Blackie had left Alexandria on 14 July and travelled aboard several ships, including Galeka, Ionian, Caledonia and Devanha. At Mudros Bay on Lemnos she witnessed one of the great staging areas of the Gallipoli campaign:

«“There were huge camps all around the bay… and the harbor was simply packed with ships of all sorts.”»

On 7 August she was close enough to Gallipoli to witness the naval and artillery bombardment. Soon the wounded began arriving.

Her ship had expected to carry perhaps 800–900 casualties. Instead, desperate requests to take more wounded saw the number climb to around 1,350 men.

Blackie wrote:

«“It is very hard work — such long hours, and no conveniences; beds are made up on the deck and on the tables…”»

The nurses worked among men lying wherever space could be found. Many were helpless, requiring the nurses to spend hours kneeling on the deck to treat them.

Yet what stayed with Blackie was the courage of the wounded:

«“It is very sad work, but the men are so brave, and lots of them such young boys.”»

Only eight men died during that voyage to Alexandria, although one died while being carried down the gangway.

Blackie also cared for New Zealanders, Australians, Indians, Māori soldiers and even Turkish prisoners. She wrote particularly movingly about the Māori Contingent:

«“We also had a few Maoris — one that I knew. Two of his brothers were killed. The Maori contingent have lost heavily.”»

Officers told her of the courage Māori soldiers had shown in bayonet attacks.

Blackie also saw the aftermath of another tragedy. The troopship Royal Edward had been torpedoed in the Aegean on 13 August 1915 with enormous loss of life. As Devanha passed the site, those aboard held a memorial service.

«“There was wreckage everywhere — smashed boats, doors, etc.”»

After carrying casualties to England, Blackie briefly experienced London — St Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, Hyde Park and Hampton Court — before joining Dongola and heading straight back towards the war.

Her letter of 12 September ends with an almost peaceful image that seems completely removed from everything she had witnessed:

«“To-day the Mediterranean is a most glorious blue, just like Tauranga Harbor.”»

But Catherine Blackie's war was about to become even more dangerous.

Only six weeks later, on 23 October 1915, she was aboard HMT Marquette, carrying members of the No. 1 New Zealand Stationary Hospital towards Salonika, when the ship was torpedoed by a German submarine.

Blackie survived.

Many did not, including 10 members of the New Zealand Army Nursing Service.

And the war would bring further tragedy to the Blackie family.

Catherine's brothers Private James Blackie and Private Donald Ronaldson McDonnell Blackie, serving with the 1st Battalion, Otago Infantry Regiment, were both killed on 14 July 1916 — on the same day.

They are buried at Cité Bonjean Military Cemetery, Armentières, France.

Catherine Blackie's letter gives us something casualty statistics and official histories cannot: the voice of a New Zealand nurse who was actually there.

She saw the wounded arriving from Gallipoli. She nursed them on overcrowded decks. She watched young men die. She witnessed the ships and guns of the Dardanelles. She passed through the wreckage of a torpedoed troopship.

And a few weeks later, she herself would be fighting for survival in the water after Marquette was sunk.

Today, 12 September, we remember Catherine Blackie and the nurses of the New Zealand Army Nursing Service who served amongst the wounded and dying of the First World War.

Lest We Forget. 🇳🇿🌹

🌺 SPRING IS HERE — AND THE REMEMBRANCE ARMY IS GETTING BACK INTO THE CEMETERIES! 🌺

With spring arriving, our teams around New Zealand are starting to get organised for another big season of remembrance, restoration and storytelling.

And there are a few parts of the country where we really need some help — particularly Christchurch and the wider Canterbury region.

We'd love to hear from people who want to become part of the New Zealand Remembrance Army.

But we're also looking for a particular kind of volunteer.

We need self-starters.

The Remembrance Army isn't a conventional club. We don't have clubrooms, weekly meetings or a large paid organisation coordinating everyone. We're a small charity, we're all volunteers, and virtually everything we have goes directly into getting the work done.

Over the years we've also learned something important:

Small groups of dedicated volunteers achieve far more than occasional huge working bees.

Our most successful teams are often just a handful of people who understand our processes, have the right equipment, and can head into a cemetery and get on with the job.

We provide our volunteers with access to our coordinator network, manuals, files, processes and advice. Much of the training is done online and at your own pace.

What we need in return are people who can follow the processes, take some initiative and maintain the quality of the work.

🌺 THERE ARE TWO MAIN WAYS YOU CAN HELP

Cemetery restoration:
Finding service graves, cleaning and restoring headstones, placing poppies, researching veterans and helping ensure their service is recognised.

Research and storytelling:
You don't necessarily need to pick up a brush or clean a headstone. We also need people interested in researching and telling the extraordinary stories behind the names.

Technology is transforming this side of our work. We're increasingly using AI as a research and writing tool, which has dramatically reduced the time required to turn research into quality stories. But people remain absolutely essential — checking the facts, finding the history and ensuring the person behind the name is remembered properly.

You don't need to commit every weekend.

You don't need to attend endless meetings.

You don't need previous military experience.

And you certainly don't need to know everything when you start.

The work is self-paced.

Do a few graves when you've got a spare morning.

Research a veteran in the evening.

Join a small local team.

Or eventually help build one.

What matters to us isn't having thousands of volunteers on a membership list.

It's having good people who actually want to do something.

People who care about history.

People who can work independently.

People who take pride in doing a job properly.

And people who believe that the service of New Zealanders deserves to be remembered.

We're particularly keen to hear from people in:

📍 Christchurch
📍 Wider Canterbury

But if you're somewhere else in New Zealand where you don't see much Remembrance Army activity, we'd still love to hear from you.

Eight years ago this organisation started with an idea and a handful of people.

Today, volunteers around New Zealand have shown what ordinary Kiwis can achieve when they're simply given the tools and trusted to get on with it.

🌺 One grave. One name. One story at a time.

If that sounds like something you'd enjoy being part of, send the New Zealand Remembrance Army page a message and tell us where you're based and whether you're interested in restoration, research and storytelling — or both.

Spring is here.

Time to get back out there.

🇳🇿🌺 Lest We Forget.

Message us or email [email protected]

Autocar Tractor and Trailer, Bougainville Air Force Museum of New Zealand photo

Former soldier completes 3200km walk carrying fallen comrades' spirits Shane Anderson was metres from finishing his 3200km walk when someone blocked his path.

🇳🇿 BATTLE OF BRITAIN DAY — 15 SEPTEMBER 🇬🇧

“Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”

On 15 September we remember Battle of Britain Day — and the New Zealanders who took to the skies in one of the most critical battles of the Second World War.

Between July and October 1940, the Royal Air Force fought desperately to prevent N**i Germany's Luftwaffe from gaining air superiority over Britain. Had the RAF been defeated, the way could have been opened for a German invasion.

New Zealand, despite being more than 18,000 kilometres away, was there.

More than 130 New Zealanders are recognised as having served as aircrew during the Battle of Britain, making New Zealand one of the most strongly represented Commonwealth nations in RAF Fighter Command relative to its population.

They flew Hurricanes and Spitfires, serving in squadrons across Britain and facing an enemy that frequently appeared in overwhelming numbers.
Among them was Air Vice-Marshal Sir Keith Park, born in Thames, New Zealand. As commander of No. 11 Group RAF, Park was responsible for the defence of London and south-east England — the area that bore the brunt of the Luftwaffe's attacks.
His leadership, judgement and careful use of his limited fighter forces played a crucial role in Britain's survival.

Other New Zealanders fought in the cockpit.
Men such as Colin Gray, who became New Zealand's highest-scoring fighter ace of the Second World War, and Alan Christopher Deere, one of our best-known fighter pilots, fought through the desperate air battles of 1940.

Not all came home.

New Zealand airmen were killed defending a country on the other side of the world, part of a generation that understood that the outcome of the battle would have consequences far beyond Britain's shores.
15 September 1940 became the symbolic high point of the Battle of Britain. The Luftwaffe launched two enormous attacks against London, believing RAF Fighter Command was close to collapse.

It wasn't.

The RAF met the raids in strength. The Luftwaffe suffered heavy losses, and the day's fighting helped demonstrate that Fighter Command remained very much alive.

Within weeks, Hitler's planned invasion of Britain was effectively abandoned.
For New Zealand, the Battle of Britain is an important part of our own military history.

Our population in 1940 was only around 1.6 million people, yet New Zealanders were there — flying, fighting, commanding and dying alongside British, Polish, Czech, Canadian and other Allied airmen.

On Battle of Britain Day, we remember The Few.

And among The Few were Kiwis.

We will remember them.

🇳🇿 New Zealand Remembrance Army 🇳🇿