Strath Taieri Historical Society committee member Priscilla Porter is co-ordinating the project and said it appeared never-ending.
''It's a project that will probably never end because we're always going to be finding out more information about these men who left to go to war and those who came home, we don't really know what happened to them,'' Mrs Porter said.
In particular, she was seeking information on 17 Strath Taieri men whose names were on local memorial and honours boards but about whom there was a lack of information.
In her research thus far, which had involved delving into military personnel files, she had found out that life did not turn out so well for some who returned from the war.
''There are some who came home and they died not long afterwards,'' she said.
''Unfortunately, we also learnt that some were suicides because they could not cope with coming back to a society that could not understand what they had been through.''
Mrs Porter said 140 soldiers in World War 1 had connections to the Strath Taieri.
''Maybe they went to school or they were, maybe, drovers who were working at one of the sheep stations here and left from here, or alternatively their parents lived here.
''They had some basis at some stage in the Strath Taieri.''
She said there was not much information available about soldiers unless they were injured or died in battle.
''Often what happened is that you never actually got to know what theatres of war they were in and what they were doing from day to day unless they were injured or killed.''
joshua.riddiford@thestar.co.nz
