Kiwi veterans who fought in the Battle for Crete have paid tribute to their fallen mates, with Saturday's commemorations marking 80 years since the fighting began.
Thinking of his fellow soldiers, Battle for Crete veteran Eric Wilson laid a wreath on Saturday for the 671 soldiers who died there.
"I feel proud and yet very sad," he told Newshub.
Seven thousand New Zealand soldiers were stationed on the Greek Island of Crete when Nazi soldiers invaded in 1941. At 102 years old, Wilson thinks of that bloody battle often.
"What I saw, you would never see in a lifetime."
Wilson is one of just three Kiwi veterans from the battle still living.
"Commemorations are always going to take place but with them around this is maybe the last time that we'll actually see them," said George Neonakis, the Consul of Greece in New Zealand.
More than 2000 Kiwi soldiers were taken as prisoners of war and many were injured, including Evan Nathan's father, who fought in the Māori Battalion.
Nathan wore his father's medals on Saturday.
"He was shot just below his right eye and the bullet came out in front of his ear," said Evan.
Amazingly his father survived that and went on to meet his wife in Greece before moving back here to start a family.
Proof that from fighting, came a long-lasting bond between Greece and New Zealand.
"I think it was a really important milestone in our relationship and it forged bonds that will never be forgotten," said Grant Robertson, the Deputy Prime Minister.
Wilson was among those welcomed to Parliament on Saturday, meeting ministers. But he'd trade all the ceremony in to have his buddies back.
"They're all gone and that speaks for itself. I'd rather have my cobbers back."
Friends from the battlefield who weren't present 80 years on, but were in everyone's thoughts.
