Warren Dawson pictured next to a large silver fern sculpture he plans to replicate in honour of 44 NZ soldiers who died 103 years ago in Israel. Photo / George Novak
Warren Dawson pictured next to a large silver fern sculpture he plans to replicate in honour of 44 NZ soldiers who died 103 years ago in Israel. Photo / George Novak
A Tauranga man is on a memorial mission to honour 44 forgotten New Zealand soldiers, 103 years after their deaths.
Warren Dawson hopes to raise $50,000 to fund and install the creation of a 5m-tall steel silver fern to be placed on the same piece of Israeli land where thesoldiers were killed during the battle of Ayun Kara on November 14, 1917.
Tomorrow, the soldiers will be remembered at a private memorial service being held at Dawson's Kaimai home, exactly 103 years after the battle began.
The soldiers were part of the 2nd Queen Alexandra's mounted rifle brigade, Dawson said.
"My own grandfather was involved in the battle, from family accounts he was one of five soldiers that went out to silence a machine gun and was the only one to return," he said.
Warren Dawson pictured next to a large silver fern sculpture he plans to replicate in honour of 44 NZ soldiers who died 103 years ago in Israel. Photo / George Novak
"In the past two years, we have been privileged to travel to Israel and to learn what an impact the New Zealand troops made in Israel."
Dawson believed not enough people knew about the battle or the sacrifice the soldiers had made for their country and he planned to change that.
He is being helped in the endeavour by Tauranga historian and author Chris Archer, who immortalised Dawson's grandfather's story in the book Saviours of Zion: The Anzac story from Sinai to Palestine 1916-1918.
"It is important people become aware of this particular action of World War I as we seem to have neglected these soldiers that died," Dawson said.
Dawson said the silver fern was symbolic to New Zealand and was inscribed on the headstones of the fallen soldiers.
"We already have working drawings of the silver fern, which will stand around five metres high."
The creation of the silver fern is expected to take about four weeks once commissioned. The creation of it and the cost of shipping is expected to be about $50,000.
"The Israelis are very supportive of the project and have allocated land where the battle took place, to erect the monument."
Archer said he and Dawson were originally asked to help replace a World War I obelisk at the site but they became enchanted with the idea of the silver fern sculpture having seen an existing version at Dawson's home.
"As we shared this concept with other people it [was] met with overwhelming support," Archer said.
Warren Dawson's grandfather fought at Ayun Kara in WWI. Warren is pictured here with a letter written by his great-grandfather to his grandfather in December 1917. Photo / File
This included support from the municipality of Israel town Ness Ziona, he said.
Archer is a qualified historian but admits he was unaware of the Ayan Kara story until he began researching for his book in 2014. He said the soldiers were "our forgotten heroes".
A webpage is yet to be set up but a trust account has been opened, where donations can be received.
Archer said the target of $50,000 depended on installation costs in Israel. Any extra donations would be placed in a scholarship fund to help younger New Zealanders visit the memorial site, he said.
Warren Dawson's grandfather's war memorabilia from Serona where NZ soldiers died 103 years ago. Photo / George Novak
Tauranga City councillor Kelvin Clout is one of the dignitaries attending this weekend's memorial service at Dawson's.
Three years ago Clout was among a contingent represented Tauranga which attended the 100-year commemorations in Israel.
Clout said the silver fern idea had merit.
"New Zealand and Australia are well-revered over there because of what we did in the war. I think it [the sculpture] is a really good thing to foster that. I'm really keen as a representative of the city to keep the relationship growing for the future."
The New Zealand Defence Force has been contacted for comment.
More information can be found by emailing cjwarcher@gmail.com.
