Year in Review: Online Cenotaph 2019

Throughout 2019, the Online Cenotaph team has been busy working on numerous projects to update and enhance Online Cenotaph records. Here we shared some of our highlights and accomplishments of 2019.

The Women's Auxiliary Air Force

Established to free up more men to engage overseas service in World War II, the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force was created in 1941 and saw 4750 women pass through its ranks, freeing up more men for active service.

'ATA-girl': The Fab Five of New Zealand Aviation

They were called 'ATA-girls' (attagirls) female pilots who served with the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) during the Second World War. During the war 168 women served with the ATA, including five New Zealand Women who paid their own way to England for a chance to fly.

An Invisible History: Wāhine Māori in the Air Force during World War II

'The Style for you is Air Force Blue' was the recruitment tag-line for the New Zealand Women's Auxiliary Air Force, established on the 16th January 1941. In this article Angela Wanhalla and Stacey Fraser from University of Otago look at the formation of the WAAFs and Wāhine Māori who served in the Air Force during the Second World War, who's history has largely been invisible.

History of Poppy Day

Poppy Day is usually held on a Friday before Anzac Day and is one of the oldest nationwide appeals by a voluntary welfare organisation in New Zealand. This year is the first year the Returned and Services Association have made the difficult decision to postpone the national Poppy Day appeal. Here Dr. Stephen Clarke reflects on the History of the Poppy Day.

Language from the First World War

As we're all confined to quarters, spare a thought for those who spent months and years in the squalid environs of the First World War. Just as words like 'lockdown' and 'bubble' have come to define our COVID-19 lives, war spawned a new, often times humorous, language to describe the miserable, dangerous and peculiar world that soldiers found themselves in.

WWII Veteran Portraits' - New Zealand Institute of Professional Photographers

Like many good ideas, this one started small. It was a casual discussion, conceived with a throw away remark over a beer. Chris Traill, a New Zealand Institute of Professional Photography Inc (NZIPP) member from Auckland, happened to mention how good it would be if NZIPP photographed returned service personnel and the rest is history.

Love in Wartime: War Weddings

During the Second World War marriage in New Zealand continuously rose, reaching a record high in 1946. Here, we have shared some of the stories of New Zealand servicemen and women and their whirlwind romances.

Unknown Warrior