Minister searches online for graves

Tukituki National MP Craig Foss. PHOTO / PAUL TAYLOR

Craig Foss' role as Minister of Veterans' Affairs has led to a hobby.

He travels the country attending "very good, apt and appropriate commemorations" at service cemeteries, then goes online to find Commonwealth War Graves in cemeteries nearby.

There are many reasons why soldiers don't always lie in dedicated cemeteries, such as the wish to be buried in a family plot.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission ensures the 1.7 million people who died in the two world wars will never be forgotten. It cares for cemeteries and memorials at 23,000 locations in 154 countries, raising funds for standard headstones.

"Normally I would go to a service cemetery, where I would pay my respects there, and then I would look up the cemetery online," Mr Foss said.

"Often it turns into a treasure hunt, trying to find where it is.

"I try to learn just a little bit about them, pay my respects and place a poppy on their headstone.

"I do that quietly wherever I go in the country.

" I like doing that kind of thing - for me it is the right thing to do."

He takes pictures of graves he finds and posts them on his Facebook page with a link to the War Graves Project website, which has a database of soldiers and their graves.

"If someone clicks that and finds a little bit about who they are, that's kind of cool."
He said there were many wonderful names on stones and cenotaphs "but there is a person behind them".

"They were a son, a father, an uncle and brother - a person who laid down their life, so we could be who we are today."

Mr Foss was looking for the grave of Arnold Kitt when he spoke with Hawke's Bay Today in Hastings Cemetery.

The gunner with the New Zealand Field Artillery served in Egypt, Gallipoli and on the Western Front. Having survived the war he died of influenza at Hastings Emergency Hospital in 1918, aged 27 years.

"He was the son of John and Mary who lived in Wall Rd in Hastings. Suddenly you can picture him."

The full list of Anzac Day services will feature in tomorrow's edition.