Well over a century after they first joined the fight in WWI, the role played by a small but crucial Kiwi military unit has been acknowledged with a remembrance ceremony.
The ceremony was held for the New Zealand Tunnelling Company at Wellington’s Pukeahu National War Memorial on Wednesday.
For the first time, recognition was offered to 12 former tunnellers who took their own lives after returning from the war.
“[It was] very emotional to hear those names being read out, it gives them a voice that they haven’t always had,” organiser Sue Baker Wilson told 1News.
The Tunnelling Company was a unit of miners, quarrymen and other labourers experienced in digging from New Zealand who used their skills on the war’s Western Front.
This year marked 110 years since the company arrived on the front for their specialised tunnelling work, often working away from other New Zealanders serving in the war.
They played a crucial role in the underground war in the town of Arras, in northern France, where tunnels were often dug just metres away from enemy lines.
In a speech, Wellington Mayor Andrew Little said the story of the tunnelling company "reminds us that service does not always happen in plain sight".
"Much of their work took place in silence and in danger, in confined spaces far below the battlefield."
Beneath the site of yesterday's commemorations was the Arras Tunnel, built in 2014 in commemoration of the Tunnelling Company.
After the names of tunnellers who died during the war were read out, veterans who took their own lives after returning home were acknowledged.
"To have the names read out today on sacred space of those who took their lives afterwards was hugely important to me," Baker Wilson said.
"I think we need to be talking more about past and present service and how that has affected some of our service personnel."
Little said the ceremony was a reminder "that the consequences of war do not always end when the guns fall silent".
"Today, we honour all who served and we acknowledge the long shadows war can cast across generations."
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