Tongan soldiers who fought for New Zealand and Australia in the world wars were acknowledged at a special ANZAC service Wednesday morning.
The Tongan community in Auckland gathered to commemorate Matala ANZAC, the very first Tongan ANZAC service in New Zealand.
Organiser Meleane Fatafehi Tu'akalau says many Tongans are out of touch with the history of ANZAC and she wants to change that.
"Our community does not really take much notice of ANZAC Day here in New Zealand. I wanted to create Matala ANZAC and run a civic service in our traditional way."
Rev. Pita Pua, who is part of the organising committee, says it's time all Tongan soldiers were remembered for their bravery, especially the 94 men who served in World War I.
"The other [Pacific] islands joined because they were colonised, us, we volunteered... It shows our heart as Tongans," he says. "We were born soldiers. We were created to be soldiers without any training."
Labour List MP 'Anahila Kanongata'a-Suisuiki says she was moved by the special ceremony.
"It's heart-warming. I've been to many ANZAC Day commemorations but this is the first one where we, as New Zealand Tongans, celebrate our Tongan soldiers."
"Tonga wasn't a colony of New Zealand or England, so for Tongans to independently stand up and say, 'We will come and support you as neighbours,' that's a story that needs to be told."
Pacific historian and scholar Toeolesulululu Damon Salesa says Tonga made a significant contribution to New Zealand's wars, which not many people know of.
"Tonga was a really important base for New Zealand and the other allied forces in for World War II. Tonga was also a supplier of troops. In World War II there was actually a unit that was entirely Tongans, it was part of the New Zealand army," he says.
"All these wonderful stories that we should tell because otherwise we simply hear the same old stories about mainstream New Zealand that doesn't include the complexities and all the different peoples who served."
"As we say, 'Lest We Forget', we make sure to remember everybody and this is an important step of doing that."