Forgotten WWI hero’s grave restored after decades of neglect
Thursday, 20 November 2025
It’s obvious from the moment you drive into Auckland’s Hillsborough Cemetery.
Amongst the overgrown weeds and greying plaques, one gravestone stands tall, bright and white; an immediate landmark against the backdrop of the Māngere Inlet.
Until recently, the grave of Frank O’Connor, one of the earliest New Zealand soldiers to be decorated during World War 1, would have been indistinguishable from the others.
But it’s been rejuvenated thanks to the efforts of a dedicated group of volunteers working to locate and update the graves of New Zealand’s fallen heroes.
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O’Connor was a member of the Wellington Battalion and served in the Gallipoli campaign during WW1. Injured in service, he was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal - or DCM - for bravery.
It was one of the highest honours available to serving soldiers, explains Simon Strombom, an Afghanistan veteran who founded the Remembrance Army initiative.
His organisation cleans and restores the abandoned graves of former service personnel, or, as he describes it, his “brotherhood”.
“It's a different type of relationship you have with the people you serve with,” he says.
“And one of the things is just giving back. A lot of younger people, younger veterans, want to do something that's positive, and looking after war graves when there's no one else who does … is positive.”
For his efforts, Strombom was this year named a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM).
O’Connor’s name was found as part of efforts to locate the graves of the 380-odd DCM recipients from WW1.
“We've actually found about 31 that either needed the DCM added or don't have anything on the grave,” Strombom explains.
When the Remembrance Army came along, O’Connor’s original headstone had toppled over and his name was indecipherable on the blackened stone. It has been replaced with a vibrant marble-coloured cross, the words clearly legible: “In loving memory of Francis Owen O’Connor, DCM”.
O’Connor was awarded his DCM for bravery at Krithia, Gallipoli. After already being injured in the campaign, he continued to fight, even losing his right eye in combat.
“He would have landed in Gallipoli, fought the first couple of weeks and moved down with New Zealanders when they went down to the south and fought [across] the daisy patch, which was on May 8 [1915], and he was wounded. Straight after that he came home,” says Strombom.
“A lot of the guys who got wounded in Gallipoli, it was the million dollar wound because they came back. The guys who didn’t then went on to serve in France, and not many of them came home. Many of them were killed.
“The chance of being killed over four years serving in the New Zealand division were quite high.”
A DCM was surpassed only by the Victoria Cross in terms of prestige, making it one of the highest honours bestowed on a soldier. It was discontinued in 1993, replaced by the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross.
During WW1, a total of 389 DCMs were awarded to New Zealand soldiers. In Strombom’s opinion, that’s “not a lot”, given New Zealand’s commitment to the war.
But military historian Ian McGibbon says they weren’t awarded posthumously, meaning only surviving soldiers were eligible.
“You had to do something conspicuous, and you had to have someone, an officer probably, cite you or send a recommendation. There were many acts of extreme bravery that never received medals because no-one lived to report them, or the person was killed,” he explains.
New Zealand was just a small part of a “huge military machine” during WW1, perhaps explaining why fewer than 400 DCMs were awarded.
“There have been complaints that New Zealand didn't get as many medals as they should have. But, of course, every other contingent probably said the same,” said McGibbon.
“A DCM is definitely a very prestigious award.”
Before restoring a grave, permission is often needed from both the local council and the veteran’s descendants. That’s often easier said than done, says Strombom.
“If councils really want to be difficult, they insist that you have to get family permission for every grave. It's just impossible. We worked out … it would take us 370 years to get all the permissions for Karori cemetery in Wellington.”
Tracking down relatives can also be difficult, says Strombom, but sometimes “amateur sleuths” step in to help.
“If it's a Smith or a Jones … you’re stuffed. You go look at the killed in action of World War One there are five pages of Smiths,” he said.
“But if it's an interesting name … O’Connor, you know, we found the grave pretty quickly. And then two of the family came forward, and one of them got the affidavit done.”
Funding to support the restoration followed, including from the Auckland Veterans Association. It’s not cheap.
“We can't do this on our own. Each grave’s roughly between $1500 and $1700, and I think we've got a list at the moment of 250 unmarked New Zealand soldiers.”
Strombom says some families are better than others at looking after the burial grounds of their relatives.
It’s not unusual for military graves to end up like O’Connor’s was before the restoration. As the weeds take over, crucial details are often obscured or erased. Some families don’t even know where to look.
“The families move on. They forget about it.”
While occasionally someone objects to a restoration taking place, O’Connor’s family were appreciative, says Strombom.
“We're all veterans ourselves,” he says. “We see them as part of our wider family. We see it as our duty to look after them.”