War grave plaques are to be restored at Waihi Cemetery and historic stories will be uncovered.
A combined initiative is being undertaken to restore veterans' war grave plaques and headstones which have fallen into disrepair as part of the New Zealand Remembrance Army's grave restoration project.
Soon the 400 plaques in the RSA section of Waihi Cemetery will be cleaned and brought back to new by volunteers who may also help investigate the stories behind the fallen men buried at the cemetery. The project has been taken on locally by Waihi Heritage Vision, Waihi Memorial RSA and Keep Waihi Beautiful.
''The restoration and cleaning of the headstones and old bronze plaques is only part of the project. Part of this restoration is to find out about the service people buried in our Waihi RSA Cemetery,'' says Krishna Buckman from Waihi Heritage Vision.
Krishna is an ex-service woman (Navy) with a strong connection to service in the military. She feels this is a way of making sure stories are not forgotten.