4 Aug 2014

NZ commemorates beginning of WWI

8:14 am on 4 August 2014

A 100-gun salute, the first time one has been fired in this country since 1911, will boom out over Wellington this morning to mark the centenary of the beginning of World War I for New Zealand.

Of New Zealand's population of one million at the time, 10 percent served overseas in WWI. Eighteen thousand died and 40,000 were wounded.

Navy, Army and Air Force chiefs laid wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, National War Memorial, Wellington.

Navy, Army and Air Force chiefs laid wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, National War Memorial, Wellington. Photo: Diego Opatowski/RNZ

Commemorations began on Monday morning with military chiefs laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior. The Last Post was played and the Ode was read.