Tonight’s Good Sort is a former Kiwi soldier who has started an army of his own to make sure our fallen veterans are never forgotten.
Simon Strombom’s life changed with a simple Facebook post which led him to his local cemetery in Porirua.
He was there to clean the headstone of Private John McGeehan, and as he did so, something stirred inside him.
“His actual death records say death by suicide, clearly he had PTSD. He died from the effects of war,” Strombom said.
He looked around the cemetery and saw that many other graves—especially those of veterans — were in disrepair, neglected and forgotten by the world. It struck him hard.
“We say ‘Lest We Forget’, but we do forget,” Strombom said.
“I was just ashamed.”
In response, Strombom, a former NZ Army Major, created the New Zealand Remembrance Army, a national volunteer network committed to remembering those who served and restoring their graves and memorials.
Today, the initiative has spread beyond its original scope.
“It seemed like a good thing to do,” says Nick, one of the volunteers.
“And it’s interesting. You learn a lot.”
Strombom estimated that over the last eight years, he and his growing team of volunteers have cleaned a staggering quarter of a million graves.
“I think I’m close to about 15,000 graves now myself,” he said.
He believes every soldier dies twice: once in battle and once when you’re forgotten in a cemetery,
“Every day is Anzac Day, and every day I’m doing something for a veteran.”
