"What would Dalton (Napier Mayor Bill Dalton) think if some vandal went to the cemetery and kicked over 300 headstones?"
"Mayor Dalton you owe all the families an unreserved apology for the stress you've put us through.
"Napier's original memorial and Eternal Flame were meant to be there, with money donated by the people, it's a sacred place where even cruise ship visitors walk past and reflect.
"We couldn't afford to travel overseas to visit Uncle Henry's grave, but trips to Napier would see us visit the memorial wall and look at his name.
"To me, the Eternal Flame was a symbol of his spirit.
"Mayor Dalton, you and your council have snuffed that out."
JHF Reid, (Uncle Henry) was one of B Troop of 31 battery who took their six-pounder guns into the small town of La Romola on the way to Florence during World War II.
The reserve gun of Q Troop, Q2, also came forward in the night of July 31-August 1, 1944.
The crew of B Troop, tired out, bedded down in a building in the town of La Romola in the early hours of August 1.
Soon afterwards a violent explosion brought much of the building down and buried them in three feet of masonry and rubble.
"My Uncle Henry, along with eight others were killed instantly, he was just 28 years old. A 10th soldier died later, while two others in another room survived," Mr Ryan said.
The cause of the explosion was a booby trap similar to one found in a nearby building.
Those killed were Sergeant W.J. Foley, Bombardier F.J.H. White-Horn, Gunners R.J.Clark, W.F.S Craine, B.R. Curry W.M. Lennane. J.H.F.Reid, S.G. Shrimpton, and K.W. Telfar. Gunner R.V. Davies died later of his injuries.
"Some 40 years later our family found out those boys killed that day could have been saved," Mr Ryan said.
"Apparently a boy of about 13 or 14 tried to tell Uncle Henry's brigade not to go in as he'd seen the Germans putting in bombs.
Sadly, the kid couldn't speak English and our boys couldn't speak Italian. When the lad saw the site the next morning he was devastated."
At this stage the family was living in Wairoa, but with Mr Ryan's 10th birthday coming up in 1957, the family took the rail car to Hastings to see the blossom festival and visit grandmother Ryan.
"My mum probably read in the Daily Telegraph about the memorial which had been consecrated in July 1957.
"So my mum and I walked along Marine Parade while the men went to the Masonic Hotel for a beer," Mr Ryan recalled.
"Mum and I walked to the memorial wall and there was Uncle Henry's name. Mum put her arms around me and started crying. It was the first time I saw her cry, that Eternal Flame meant so much.
"Mum said the flame would never, ever go out because the souls of those men and women were that flame."
In the British Empire Cemetery in Florence the soldiers graves are looked after by locals, young and old, in appreciation of those who came from the other side of the world to help free them from fascism and dictatorship.
Mr Ryan has never missed an Anzac Day service since the 1970s, attending Dannevirke's Dawn Service, walking in the parade behind the soldiers, before going to the breakfast at the Services and Citizens Club and then returning to march down High St for the civic service, often accompanied by his grandsons Ryan 11, and Blake 8.
And in an emotional ritual after every Dawn Service Mr Ryan takes Uncle Henry's photo, places it on the cenotaph, stands back and reflects and sheds some tears.
"We must never forget those sacrifices, even today," he said.
Mr Ryan is looking to contact the Napier RSA management to try organise a people-power march in the city for the reinstatement of the memorial at its original site.