Fifteen Northland rangatahi flew to Italy yesterday to join commemorations for the 80th anniversary of the end of the battle of Cassino.
Pita Tipene from Ngāti Hine says the group from the Leadership Academy, A Company at Te Kāpehu Whetū in Whāngarei, will also visit other sites in Greece and Crete where the 28 Maori Battalion fought.
The battalion lost more than 150 men in its first assault on the town, which was strategically placed on the way to Rome, and the New Zealand total at the end of the two-month battle was 343 deaths and over 600 wounded.
Tipene says it was some of the most bloody fighting of the Italian campaign.