An Anzac memorial service was held above the site in the South China Sea where a Japanese freighter — which had been carrying more than a 1000 prisoners — was sunk by an American submarine in 1942.

The Montevideo Maru, carrying soldiers and civilians captured when Japan invaded Rabaul in Papua New Guinea in January 1942, was torpedoed by the USS Sturgeon off the coast of the Philippines in July 1942.

A total of 979 people died, almost all Australian, but there were a number of other nationalities, including three New Zealanders.

The wreck was located last week by the research vessel Fugro Equator and the Silentworld Foundation, using an autonomous underwater vehicle.

One of those on board the Fugro Equator is Andrea Williams, the chair of the Rabaul and Montevideo Maru Society, who said the site, at more than 4000m deep, will remain untouched and be treated as a sacred place.

She said the crew on the Fugro held a service on Anzac Day over the site of the wreck.

“That was a tremendously moving experience as you can imagine,” she said.

“You know, being out on the Fugro Equator, and you have had the vast deep blue ocean just spread all around you, and just think about all the lives that were lost. So having a service over the site was tremendously special and very, very moving.”

Williams, who lost an uncle and her grandfather on the ship, helped form the Rabaul and Montevideo Society in 2009, after the sinking had been largely ignored by the Australian government and media.

She said ahead of each Anzac Day she would write to media outlets asking them to cover the sinking, which remains the worst maritime disaster in Australian history.

But Williams said more and more people linked to the society found the gatherings were “really comforting for the families because they could talk about it to other people who understand their generational grief really, I think”.

“And you find in the early days you have more of the siblings of those who had died on the Montevideo Maru, and also more of the children.”

She said with the greater recognition it was rewarding to know that the men lost on the Montevideo Maru were not forgotten.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Anzac dawn ceremonies have been held across the Pacific region, with tributes paid to both Anzac and Pacific Island soldiers killed in the two world wars.

Papua New Guinea
In Papua New Guinea, World War II veterans were among those who attended a dawn service held at the Bomana War cemetery in Port Moresby.

Bomana is the largest war cemetery in the Pacific, containing the graves of 3779 service personnel, the majority of whom were Australian — many of whom fought while sick with malaria.

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“Their suffering was immense and endurance beyond measure,” Australia’s Minister for International Development in the Pacific, Pat Conroy, said in his speech.

“They died in defence of Australia. What happened here is important to our national story and forged a deep friendship between Australia and Papua New Guinea,” he added.

The empire of Japan invaded Papua New Guinea in 1942, capturing more than half of the country before being pushed back by an Allied counter offensive — a campaign which resulted in the deaths of more than 7000 Australians, 4684 Americans and more than 200,000 Japanese.

An unknown number of Papuans were killed, many of whom served as scouts and stretcher-bearers.

Papuan deaths included 40 members of the Papuan Infantry Battalion who died fighting alongside the Anzacs.

“We will never forget the Papua New Guineans who fought alongside and supported the Australians in the hardest of times,” said Conroy.

“Forty graves are of soldiers from the Papuan New Guinea Battalion who fought bravely alongside the Australians.”

Samoa
Samoa became a battle front in 1914, when the then German colony was invaded by the New Zealand army in a bloodless take-over. A number of Samoan Anzac soldiers served in the World War, three of whom are known to have died.

Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa acknowledged Samoa’s war contributions in her Anzac Dawn Ceremony speech in Apia.

“Anzac Day provides us with a reminder of the close and enduring links between Samoa and its Pacific working in close collaboration to ensure that we can coexist in a region of peace and stability.”

“As we consider the enormity of the sacrifice made, let us remember that their true and lasting legacy are the freedoms we continue to enjoy to this day.”

American Samoan US Army representatives were honoured at the service for their sacrifices — according to the US military, ethnic Samoans have the highest enlistment rate.

Many New Zealand soldiers of Samoan heritage also participated in World War II and recent conflicts in countries such as Afghanistan.

Having no standing army, Samoa contributes police officers to peacekeeping missions around the world.

“No doubt, the Anzac spirit lives on in the work of those servicemen and women currently involved in operations overseas including United Nation peacekeeping and humanitarian missions” said Fiame.

“Let us also take this time to reflect on the families and communities with loved ones currently deployed.”

President of Returned Services Association and Deputy Prime Minister Tuala Tevaga Ponifasio expressed his gratitude to the Anzacs for their sacrifices but also paid tribute to Samoans who fought for independence.

“Today we paid tribute to those soldiers from New Zealand, Australia, Great Britain and all those Samoans who gave their lives for those nations,

“Our brothers and sisters who served in the United States Military . . . we salute and honour you.

“A lot of Samoans lost their lives during colonial times and were subjected to unfair treatment, their names are not written on these memorials but are written in our hearts,

“War is something we all hear about but we fail to comprehend, it’s violent practice that is won not by weapons but by the hearts and minds of soldiers.”

Fiji
Fiji contributed a total of 1255 volunteers (the majority being European expats) to World War 1, with 173 never returning home from Europe.

In World War II, the former British colony committed around 8000 troops to the Pacific War — one of the highest rates of enlistments from a Commonwealth country, 50 of whom died in the Solomon Islands campaign.

Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka paid his respects by laying a wreath at Fiji’s National War Memorial Site in Suva where a dawn service was held.

New Zealand High Commissioner to Fiji, Charlotte Darlow, said Anzac Day celebrated a special bond between Fiji and the Anzacs.

“Standing here today, there is a shared sense of unity, comradeship, and collective security, but it is important to remember that today’s peace comes from the hard work and sacrifice of previous generations,” said Darlow.

“Fiji, Australia, and New Zealand, alongside other regional partners, have all been part of that story.”

Tonga
In Nuku’alofa, the Tongan military hosted a dawn service at Pangai Lahi Park near Nuku’alofa’s waterfront.

Tongans participated in both World Wars, with the Tonga Defence Force deploying two contingents to the Battle of Guadalcanal in 1942. Two Tongan soldiers were killed.

A New Zealand Defence Force representative along with High Commissioner Matthew Howell attended the service, where they commended Tonga for its contributions to World War 1.

“Ninety-one Tongan soldiers volunteered to fight in World War 1, 10 in the Australian Imperial Force, 62 in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force and 15 in the Maori Battalion, two died on the battlefield and another would succumb to disease,” he said.

“Anzac Day is not just about those who served long ago, its also about those who continue to serve till this day.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

In the early 1940s a young Sergeant Alexander Brown from Mangaia, Cook Islands, was killed in action.

“His siblings, all my uncles and aunts all passed away without knowing where he was. He was 24,” former member of the Cook Islands Parliament Tamaiva Tuavera — affectionately known as captain Tama — said.

The “boy from Mangaia” left his home land as a teenager and went to study in New Zealand.

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World War Two broke out, so he left school and signed up for the Royal Air Force.

He made his way to Canada for training and became a navigator on the bombers.

Alex became Sergeant Alexander Brown, the first Cook Islander to be enlisted in the Royal Air Force.

“Taking part in bombing missions over Germany, he was killed in action,” captain Tama said.

Burial site unknown
Nobody ever told the family where their Alex was buried, a deep pain carried for generations.

“Especially my mother, Mrs Jessie Mary Tuavera née Brown. Tears always fall when she talks about her baby brother,” He said.

Seventy four years after he was killed his great niece, Cassey Eggelton, went searching for him.

She found him in Kiel, Germany.

They now know, thanks to the research of captain Tama’s sister, that Sergeant Alexander Brown was killed in action over Somme and then moved to the Commonwealth Military Cemetery in Kiel, Germany.

“And that’s one of my uncles during the war. I’ve got other great uncles, those in the First World War and the Second World War,” Captain Tama said.

Captain Tama wants the next generation to remember the sacrifices made by soldiers who fought for freedom, “the veterans and war heroes before us”.

‘I get a lump in the throat’
Captain Tama is a former member of the Cook Islands Parliament and soldier and Anzac Day holds some serious weight in his heart.

“It’s hard to describe at times. It’s a feeling that only comes back during Anzac when you remember the ones that have passed from your ancestors to your mate,” he said.

“See for us because we served, we know our ancestors went to war, the First World War, the Second World War, and all the conflicts in between. And so it’s always hard but Anzac always brings back, the memory keeps coming back.”

Anzac Day in the Cook Islands is to be celebrated a day after Aotearoa.

Captain Tama has organised an event where a 300 strong crowd is to be hosted the day before the official Cook Islands Dawn service, in conjunction with commemoration services in Aotearoa.

“A reunion for ex serving and currently serving soldiers, female and male,” he said.

A teary eyed Cook Islands RSA president, Thomas Annas, said the reunion was already very touching, with his old mates already arriving.

Southeast Asia reunion
“We have a reunion over here for soldiers that served in Southeast Asia, from 1974 to 1989. And they have decided that for this year’s reunion, they would hold it here in the Cook Islands,” Annas said.

He is proud it is being held at his small RSA of around 80 members.

This is personal for him too, reuniting with people he hasn’t seen for many years.

“I left Singapore in 1978 and I just lost contact with them,” he said.

One of the old comrade’s expected to attend is a long lost mate who he has not seen for 26 years.

“I get a lump in the throat, you get the odd tear in your eye now and again when you meet up with someone,” he said.

There were just under 500 soldiers from the Cook islands who volunteered in World War, they were rejected, but being ‘warriors from the Cook Islands’ they wanted to go, so raised money and eventually they did go attached to the 28th Maori Battalion.

“They said 30 of these Cook Islanders did the work of over 100 British soldiers,” Annas said.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.