Each Anzac Day, New Zealanders remember the heroic deeds of the country's servicemen and women.
Names such as Upham, Freyberg, Apiata are recalled with pride.
But one of Otago's, and arguably New Zealand's, most decorated wartime sons remains virtually unknown in the province in which he was born and raised.
Lieutenant-colonel James Waddell - who was born in Dunedin and lived as a child in Cromwell - was awarded the Croix de Guerre eight times and decorated as a commander of the Legion of Honour.
The Embassy of France in New Zealand's website describes him as an ''exemplary figure in the history of France and ... New Zealand''.
He was born in Dunedin on October 11, 1873, the third child of Thomas Waddell, a saddler who emigrated from Scotland, and his wife, Ruth, originally of Yorkshire, in England.
James was one of their eight children. Two of his siblings died before the age of 10.
When he was 6, he attended Cromwell School before starting at Otago Boys' High School in 1887.
His father was declared bankrupt the following year and lost his saddler's business.
The small plot in which Thomas Waddell is buried with his wife and two of their children in Cromwell's Old Cemetery in Orient St has no gravestone and suggests the family did not recover financially.
James Waddell attended the University of Canterbury and became the first New Zealander to win a government military scholarship.
In 1895, the 21-year-old became the first New Zealander to pass the open examination for an officer's commission in the British Army. Retired public servant Dave Johnston has wondered for about 15 years how Lt-col Wardell has not been recognised more widely in New Zealand.
The self-confessed armchair historian made gaining recognition for Lt-col Waddell's exploits his passion.
It started with a chance meeting while he was working in Wellington as a taxi driver one Anzac Day in the 1990s.
He was driving the then French ambassador for New Zealand, when they heard a radio broadcaster proclaim Charles Upham as New Zealand's greatest war hero, a suggestion which the ambassador scoffed at, Mr Johnstone said.
''He said 'Upham's not New Zealand's greatest war hero. Have you not heard of James Waddell?'''
After the encounter, Mr Johnstone researched Lt-col Waddell and learned he had earned the Croix de Guerre twice during the Gallipoli campaign and six times while fighting on the Western Front in the French Foreign Legion during World War 1.
His bravery in battle was most exemplified by two occasions on which he was wounded but refused to leave the field of battle until those under his command were safe.
He served in the British Army in South Africa and India from 1895 until about 1900 and suffered abuse at the hands of his superiors, Mr Johnstone said.
A court martial resulted and Waddell left shortly after, but Mr Johnston's efforts to find out what happened were unsuccessful. However, he did learn Lt-col Waddell's reasons for leaving the British Army were personal.
''Love intervened. He met a Frenchwoman ... who convinced him to join the French Foreign Legion,'' Mr Johnston said.
Legion records show Lt-col Waddell joined in April 1900, and saw service in China, Algeria and Indochina (now Thailand) before World War 1.
By the time World War 1 started, he had divorced his first wife, Blanche Prudhomme, and married Marguerite Fournier, although their marriage lasted only several weeks.
Legion citations show Lt-col Waddell earned his first Croix de Guerre on July 4, 1915, for his actions on June 21 at Gallipoli, when he led the legion's 1st Regiment of Africa in storming Turkish trenches and held them, despite violent counterattack. He was also made Chevalier of the Legion of Honour.
His next Croix de Guerre came on August 27, when he remained on the field of battle commanding his troops, despite being grievously wounded.
He earned the next six Croix de Guerre between August 5, 1916, and October 10, 1918, while serving on the Western Front. He was also made Officer of the Legion of Honour during this time.
After the war, he moved to Africa and was made a Commander of the Legion of Honour in 1920. He retired from military service in 1926 in Tunisia.
Following his retirement, he lived in Morocco with third wife Aida. The couple had two children, Maud and Elizabeth.
He left Morocco in 1950 for New Zealand, with Maud, her husband Francois Martinez and their two children, Claudia and Richard.
Claudia Klein, of Tauranga, recalls her grandfather as being ''very private''.
It was part of the reason his story had only recently emerged.
''There were reporters at the wharf to meet us from Morocco,'' she said.
''He was always very polite, acknowledging people he came across, but he was not very polite to the reporters. He just didn't want to talk about his life.''
Despite marrying three times, he ''certainly wasn't a Casanova-looking type guy'', she said.
''He was short in stature and as he got older he was well-built.''
Her father told her Lt-col Waddell's friends in France were among the aristocracy.
Despite that, and his military achievements, he died with little wealth on February 18, 1954, while visiting his son in Levin.
''He went out a Christian and he really didn't want to acknowledge any of his former years or achievements,'' Mrs Klein said.
''He thought them to be nothing.''
It was his desire to find peace with God which led to him meeting Levin Old Soldier's Home chaplain Enoch Coppin.
Mr Coppin recorded his meetings with Lt-col Waddell in the days before his death and published a short biography titled Victory Forever: Waddell of Gallipoli.
Mr Johnston credits Mr Coppin with preserving the legend of Lt-col Waddell.
Mr Coppin said, in the biography, the reading of Lt-col Waddell's citations at his funeral ''occupied almost 10 minutes''.
Lt-col Waddell is a French hero and Mr Johnston hopes New Zealand will give him the commendation he deserves.
''I can't think of any other individual in the history of our nation that both countries can be proud of,'' he said.
