On Anzac Day, former Dannevirke man Larry McKenna was at the 100th commemorations at Gallipoli having been drawn in the ballot for places.
But for Mr McKenna, who now lives in Napier, another poignant anniversary will occur on September 24, 2017, the anniversary of the tragic death of 10 New Zealand soldiers killed in a train accident at Bere Ferrers station in the United Kingdom.
"One of those killed was my great uncle Richard McKenna from Eketahuna," Mr McKenna told the Dannevirke News. "Also killed was Dannevirke man, William Greaves from Maharahara.
Scott McKenna (left) with his son Toby and father Larry McKenna, formerly of Dannevirke and now living in Napier, at the Bere Ferrers memorial on a wall at St Andrew's Church, a 900-year-old Norman chapel.
"Last year, my wife Christine and I visited the site of this tragedy along with my son and his son, three generations at the site where it's thought only two other families have visited. We met with a local man responsible for setting up the memorial, along with the president of the local Royal British Legion and now I'm trying to contact other families who may be interested in commemorating the 100 years of this tragedy in 2017."
Mr McKenna's links to Dannevirke remain, with his mother at Eileen Mary rest home and his sister Colleen a local midwife. His brother David lives at Tiratu.
New Zealand soldiers remembered at Bere Ferrers
"My great uncle Richard had two brothers, Patrick (Clive) and John who both farmed at Tiratu following the war. Patrick, my grandfather, served at Gallipoli and I'm currently working to get my grandfather's war records into a form [so that] my grandchildren will be able to be informed of their great-great- grandfather's service for four and a half years of the Great War."
The tragedy of Bere Ferrers is one of the little known stories of World War 1.
The young soldiers had sailed as reinforcements for the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, leaving Wellington on July 24, 1917, arriving in Plymouth aboard the troop ships Ulimaroa and Norman on September 24.
At 6am that day they had breakfast and prepared for the train journey to Sling Camp on the Salisbury Plains, about a day's travel. Before clambering into the carriages at Plymouth's Friary Station shortly after 3pm, the troops, who had not eaten since early morning, were told to expect rations at their first scheduled stop.
The arrangement was for two men from each carriage to collect buns provided by the mayoress' comfort fund from the brake-van and distribute the provisions among the peckish troops.
Less than an hour into the trip along the London and South Western line, the train pulled into Bere Ferrers, a small siding near the River Tavy.
Because of the length of the train, men from a rear carriage clambered down on to the tracks, thinking their hunger was about to be sated.
As they stretched their legs, the express service from Waterloo hurtled round a sharp curve past the stationary troop train. Its whistle sounded too late.
The men on the track never stood a chance.
A report in the Ashburton Guardian described the horrific scene. Two of the soldiers were decapitated, a third was cut in half.
Interviewed after the tragedy, a New Zealand soldier recounted how he narrowly escaped death, being about to step down to the track when the train sped by.
"I saw the coat tails of the man in front of me fly up and I picked his body up afterwards some yards down the line," he said at the time.
An inquest held at Bere Ferrers station a week after the disaster returned a verdict of accidental death. The soldiers are remembered on a brass tablet on a wall at St Andrew's Church in Bere Ferrers, a 900-year-old Norman chapel.
A New Zealand flag hangs beside the plaque, which honours the men for "their loyalty and self-sacrifice in coming from their far-off homes to fight for England in the great war for the freedom of the world."
