Find a service grave
Honouring past service people starts with finding the right grave and confirming the story behind it. The resources below will help you identify New Zealanders who served, locate official war graves, and connect local history to national records.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) — Find War Dead
The CWGC database commemorates 1.7 million Commonwealth men and women from the First and Second World Wars and provides structured search filters. It’s the primary source for official war graves and memorial listings worldwide.
Visit the Commonwealth War Graves Commission – Find war dead website.
Find a Grave — community‑contributed cemetery records
Find a Grave hosts the world’s largest gravesite collection, with over 250 million memorials created by volunteers since 1995. You’ll find headstone photos, locations, inscriptions, plot notes, and family links. The website is useful for confirming burial sites and reading inscriptions before you visit.
Visit the Find a Grave website
Auckland War Memorial Museum — Online Cenotaph
Online Cenotaph is a biographical, living memorial where researchers and families contribute records for those who served New Zealand. You can search by name or service number, view embarkations, unit information, images, and user‑submitted notes. It is ideal for context and service confirmation.
Visit the online Cenotaph – Person search website
Archives New Zealand – War records
Archives NZ provides guidance and access to military personnel files, unit diaries, war graves, prisoner of war records, and decorations. World War I personnel files are digitised, but post‑WWI service records are still held by the New Zealand Defence Force – personnel archives and medals.
Visit the Archives New Zealand war records
New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel archives and medals
The NZDF Personnel Archives and Medals office at Trentham holds around 1.5 million service records for about 420,000 New Zealand service personnel post‑WWI. These files confirm enlistment, postings, promotions, awards and more. Access is request‑based; medical files have privacy restrictions, and digitised WWI files remain with Archives NZ.
Visit the New Zealand Defence Force accessing military records website
Porirua War Stories — local histories and cemetery guide
A standout example of remembrance done well – and friend of the NZRA – is the Porirua War Stories that shares locally researched biographies of servicemen and women connected to Porirua, with easy navigation by conflict and a dedicated Porirua Cemetery section. It is perfect for on‑the‑ground verification and storytelling in the Wellington region. We highly encourage more websites of this nature.