remembering New Zealand soldiers

Many visitors quietly pass by the monument to New Zealand soldiers killed in Italy, the monument being at the Cassino railway station, where the Maori Battalion fought so fiercely in the Battle of Cassino.

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This morning I pulled some weeds in the rapidly disappearing garden. I hadn't got back to Cassino with my weed spray in time. Today (weed killer is frowned upon here) I furtively sprayed the tenacious and stringy weeds that I couldn't pull from near the monument.

As I pulled longer weeds in the garden near the platform side I dislodged a stone, smooth, flat. I love stones, so it was a pleasure to pick it up. To my surprise it was extra special, with a design and paua pieces on it. Designed, perhaps, by someone who had links with the Maori Battalion, maybe placed in memory of a relative killed in the battle for the railway station?

The stone had become wedged in the bark that I had hoped would keep the weeds down. I hope that the person who left it there came when the weeds were not so bad. I wonder why it was where it was. Perhaps they didn't enter the garden, but reached over and placed the stone quietly from the platform. Or did somebody start to remove it, then think better of taking it away from the monumental garden?

I wonder, did the stone with the lovely Maori design and paua glued to it come all the way from New Zealand? I think it probably did.

If you were the person who left this special momento in the garden I would like you to know that it is not lost, but has been carefully placed on the monument in the central garden.
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