Tales of war and sacrifice emerged from silent gravestones during a tour of Andersons Bay Cemetery on Anzac Day.
Dunedin historian Gregor Campbell led about a dozen people on a journey around the cemetery, revealing soldiers’ stories of wartime courage, with proceeds going to the RSA.
"A lot of people think that cemeteries are kind of creepy places or places full of dead people. For me they are libraries of stories, and they are people who were once alive and their stories can be found and can be told."
A number of family graves at the cemetery commemorated those who died in action or while serving, but not all of them contained their remains.
"In World War 1 they were buried close to where they died. And that’s why they were found in official war cemeteries."
The nature of trench warfare and the heavy artillery of World War 1 meant many bodies were not found and a section of Andersons Bay Cemetery commemorates those killed overseas.
For some, even if they survived the brutality of war, they had to endure further suffering after returning to New Zealand.
"A lot of men came back from World War 1 with TB and died of that often many years later, and not much of a life for a hero."
Remembering stories of war and continuing to commemorate Anzac Day was a reminder of the sacrifice of others, he said.
"I hope on Anzac Day we can remember maybe one person in particular because they were all sons and daughters with families and they all had lives they wanted to lead.
"What they really deserved was to come home and lead ordinary lives and love and be loved and have children, and many of them didn’t and that is the waste of war."
