New Zealand's Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy has acknowledged the 1000 men from the Pacific Islands who served in the First World War.
Poppies pinned on by the descendants of Cook Island soldiers. Photo: RNZ / Daniela Maoate-Cox
At the end of her first Anzac Day speech as Governor-General, she said they included 500 men from the Cook Islands and 150 from Niue.
She says she unveiled a sculpture in Rarotonga recently to honour the Cook Islands soldiers who worked on the Arras tunnels as part of New Zealand's Pioneer Battalion.
"That expression of pride and sorrow served as a timely reminder of our shared experience of loss and the lasting impacts of war."
