A charity that restores the graves of fallen service men and women across the country is urging Kiwis in the upper North Island to chip in to help preserve their legacy. 

The New Zealand Remembrance Army (NZRA) has restored 175,000 graves since launching in 2018, but it’s estimated that’s only about half of what needs restoring. 

Founder and CEO Simon Strombom is encouraging more Kiwis to join their group of 5000 volunteers in getting their hands dirty. 

“We’ve got teams all over New Zealand, but there are a couple of areas we’re a bit weak – in the Waikato, Northland, [and] north Auckland. So we're keen to set up new teams – and that could just be one person,” he told Newstalk ZB. 

“It's a very satisfying project. If you can go in and see a headstone that hasn't been touched since 1920, we work very closely with Veteran Affairs in terms of standards of what we do. So that's fantastic. We know what we're doing. We're six years in and we know the scene.” 

As well as cleaning up graves, the NZRA has recorded more than 3000 military stories. Strombom says this has revealed just how much New Zealand has “punched above its weight” when it comes to its military endeavours. 

“Recently I uncovered one [story] at Karori of a young New Zealand boy who's obviously incredibly brave, who destroyed nine German tanks with a field gun, and he only had a Distinguished Conduct Medal. I still can't believe it wasn't the Victoria Cross! 

“But the stories are just amazing. It staggers me. It's kind of like a boy's own adventure some days when you go into a cemetery. 

“Palmerston North seems to be the hotbed of interesting stories – we were doing up a Victoria Cross [grave] and it turns out there was a woman who worked with Florence Nightingale on the grave. So it's just these ordinary people living extraordinary lives. 

“We have to tell these stories again because we know we know the famous ones, but there's a whole lot of them that stack up behind them.”