Like many other New Zealanders who died in service, Lance Corporal Rory Malone now has his name proudly listed on the memorial gates at the entrance to the Riverhead War Memorial Park in Auckland.

The addition of his name to the memorial is one of a few for soldiers that served in Afghanistan.

“Despite the well-publicised issues with red tape, local bureaucracy, and general misunderstandings – to see Rory’s name on the memorial sends a message of hope to other veterans that our time serving overseas is finally being recognised.,” says Simon Strombom, Manging Director, New Zealand Remembrance Army (NZRA).

According to the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF), more than 3500 personnel served in Afghanistan, in what was one of the NZDF’s longest-running deployments over 20-years.

The last personnel returned home in 2021. In that time ten New Zealanders had lost their lives while serving there.

Lance Corporals Malone and Pralli Durrer were killed in the Battle of Baghak, where six others were wounded north of Kiwi Base at Bamiyan in Afghanistan in 2012. Malone was aged 26-years.

“Rory’s recognition today – 13 years after his death - is a small victory for a Kiwi who paid the ultimate sacrifice that hopefully sets an encourages other councils to update their memorials with the names of the fallen. It was made possible by the efforts of the Remembrance Army, Point Chevalier Returned Services Association and the Auckland City Council.

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“Over the last six years, the NZRA has worked on numerous war memorials. During this time, it is obvious that most memorials are outdated and exclude NZDF operations from the last 30 years.

“Sadly, most memorials in local New Zealand towns and cities only have Vietnam noted as a campaign that Kiwi personnel have been involved in. And only a handful of memorials - four out of 500- have more recent campaigns.

“It is estimated there are over 35,000 veterans in New Zealand who have served in operations in Bosnia, Bougainville, East Timor, Sinai, Sudan, Iraq, Afghanistan, and numerous other missions. But each year there are fewer of us.

“We challenge all councils and RSAs to place these campaigns on their war memorials and recognise the contemporary veterans who live in their communities in time for next year’s 25th Anniversary of the first NZDF troops officially entering Afghanistan (9 December 2001).

“It is not right to wait to leave this another 30 to 40 years after these operations,” says Simon.

Notes:

New Zealand’s war memorials offer an insight into a local community’s heritage. They show how we value our citizens service and sacrifice; through the recognition we give them.

Following the end of the First World War, New Zealand embarked on a major works programme to recognise the huge loss of that generation.

In 1945 as the service personnel returned from the Second World War, and many of the existing war memorials were updated to reflect that generations’ losses.

Within five years, around 90 percent of the memorials had Second World War campaigns added.

In the following decades from Korea (1950s) to Vietnam (1960/70s), updating memorials fell to local servicemen and their links with councils and RSAs for memorials to reflect these campaigns.

Since Vietnam, only 1.5 percent of New Zealand memorials have campaigns from peace keeping operations beginning in the late 1990s.

In Australia, the Federal Government paid for a project to update all their memorials with modern operations and their sacrifice.

In 2022, the NZRA formally requested of all 62 councils to release their plans on when their memorials will reflect contemporary campaigns. To date few have responded.

Carterton District Council is the latest region to have updated their memorial, with help from the NZRA.

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