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Pages tagged with: death

Just over ninety years ago, in November 1918, New Zealand was in the grip of its worst-ever disease outbreak. A lethal influenza pandemic killed more than 8600 people in two months. No other event has claimed so many New Zealand lives in such a short time.
Acknowledging the sacrifices of those who served or died was an important way for communities, including schools,  to make sense of the human cost of war.
The following roll lists the names of seafarers who died while serving on New Zealand merchant ships and New Zealanders known to have been lost while sailing under the flags of other countries (mainly Britain).
Many people believed that the second wave of the 1918 influenza pandemic arrived in New Zealand in the form of ‘a deadly new virus’ on board the RMS Niagara.
Identifying victims is a major task following any mass tragedy. A number of circumstances made this process particularly difficult at Tangiwai.
The end of the American invasion was a gradual process which started in the last months of 1943. For some New Zealanders it was a relief to see the men go; for others it was an occasion of sadness and, before long, grief as many Americans died, especially in the invasion of Tarawa Island.
Cemetery for New Zealand soldiers, Bangaranga, Vella Lavella
A soldier looks at dead bodies on a Pacific beach
Nightcaps in Southland suffered one if the highest death rates in the country during the 1918 influenza pandemic – 45.9 per 1000 people died.
Jacquie Baxter and Stephanie Baxter at the unveiling of the gravestone of James K. Baxter at Jerusalem, Whanganui River, photographed in October 1973.
New Zealand casualty figures for the First World War, broken down by month.
On 27 July 1916 the Auckland Weekly News had on its cover a photograph captioned ‘The Casualty List’.
Douglas Harle was a person of outstanding character who showed great initiative in leading his men.
Joseph Firth was a physically imposing man who stressed the importance of physical fitness and believed in manliness, toil and duty.
In 1914 most New Zealanders made sense of the costs of war through the idea of the good Christian death. This form of consolation and ritual could not prepare people, though, for the scale and manner of death experienced during the war, particularly in France and Belgium.
Dead German assault troops lie beside a crashed glider
The remains of a German paratrooper who was killed in a burning tent at 7 General Hospital
Death rates in South Island towns and counties from the influenza pandemic
Death rates from the 1918 influenza pandemic for towns and counties in the North Island
Personal effects of an American killed in the Pacific war, including a well-thumbed copy of Meet New Zealand