The Kaitīeke war memorial was unveiled on 22 January 1923. The commemorative inscription on one face of the obelisk read: THIS MONUMENT / WAS ERECTED BY THE / SETTLERS OF KAITIEKE / IN MEMORY OF THOSE / WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES / - IN THE - / GREAT EUROPEAN WAR / 1914 - 1918. The names of 23 local men were listed. The broken column mounted on the obelisk symbolised the lives which have been cut short and the families which had been broken. In April 1949, six Second World War names were added.
In 2015 a sculpture of a horse crafted from horseshoes was installed nearby: to celebrate the Year of the Horse, to commemorate the ANZAC centenary, and to acknowledge the contributions of the horse to war and agriculture through the ages. About this time, another bronze plaque was added to the memorial: ERECTED BY / THE KAITEKE [sic] & RETARUKE / VALLEY RESIDENTS / IN RECOGNITION OF / THOSE SERVICEMEN / WHOSE LIVES WERE BROKEN / IN THEIR PRIME.
Images: Clive Gifford and Jocelyn Watkin, 2024
Text: Bruce Ringer, 2024
For more information see Kaitieke: The District, The People, The Schools, compiled by Wilf Couper and Ron Cooke. Ref: ISBN 0-908724-24-1, published by C & S Publications, Taumarunui.
Find out more about those listed on this memorial from Auckland Museum's Cenotaph database