25 Apr 2013

Pacific islanders' role marked at NZ Anzac Day event

12:51 pm on 25 April 2013

Anzac Day Commemorations in New Zealand have remembered the contribution made by Pacific Islanders.

Thousands of people turned out in the Auckland Domain to pay tribute to veterans and those who lost their lives serving in the armed forces.

The Auckland Mayor, Len Brown, spoke of the almost 7,300 Aucklanders who were killed in the First World War, a third of whom have no known grave.

He also paid tribute to the efforts made in the Pacific.

"All of the Pacific Islands, they were actively involved, either by being invaded or by having troops who were serving in our armies, or their own armies, or other armies around the world and their memories are as intense as ours and very much interrelated and interconnected and of course for those coming out of the second world war, the 28th infantry battalion had Pacific Island representation, which is an untold story."

The mayor of Auckland, Len Brown.