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For most New Zealanders the Battle of Passchendaele is remote history, but for a select few at yesterday's 90th anniversary commemorative service in Wellington, the World War I battle was much more immediate.
The Newlove family of Takaka lost three brothers in one terrible week in October 1917. John Newlove, the great nephew of Charles, Edwin and Leslie, laid a wreath during yesterday's ceremony in memory of his ancestors.
Visibly moved by the ceremony, Mr Newlove said he was encouraged that people still remembered Passchendaele.
"I think it's starting to be recognised now as something that needs to be, because it does," he said.
Yesterday's service marked the anniversary of the bloodiest day in New Zealand military history - October 12, 1917 - when more than 800 soldiers were killed in a few hours.
The service was attended by Governor General Anand Satyanand, Veterans Affairs Minister Rick Barker, and members of the armed forces and diplomatic corps.
Also present were descendants of Samuel Frickleton, a Blackball miner who earned the Victoria Cross a few months earlier at the nearby battlefield of Messines.
"It's been a great opportunity to see things are acknowledged after such a long time," his granddaughter, Leigh Jensen, said. "The generations are slowly dying off: it's up to us grandchildren to carry the stories on."
