The 107 white crosses standing in Tauranga's Masonic Park to honour each soldier the city lost during World War 1 are drawing much interest and appreciation from descendants and visitors alike.

The City's Fields of Remembrance project, unveiled yesterday afternoon, is today seeing residents and soldiers' relatives visit the crosses and the ‘From Tauranga to the Trenches' exhibition being housed in shipping containers at the site.

Janet Hanna, checking out her late uncle Reginald Watkins' cross at the Field of Remembrance today.

The site was blessed by Reverend Kotene Pihema before the crosses were planted by Tauranga RSA president Dick Frew, Mount Maunganui RSA vice-president Terry Smith, WW100 coordinator Paul Anderson and NZ Fire Service representative Andy Collins.

Janet Hanna, 79, travelled from Auckland to visit the field of crosses, with one cross standing to honour her late uncle Private Reginald Watkins, who was killed on Western Front on July 23, 1916.

Her family planted Reg's cross in the park yesterday – and the ‘From Tauranga to the Trenches' exhibition also tells his story, of leading an ordinary yet remarkable life.

'The reason he's included in this Tauranga commemoration, even though we were a Cambridge and Mamaku family, is that as a Salvation Army caption he worked here in Tauranga particularly with the Maori people on Matakana Island,” says Janet.

Janet says Reg was one of three boys from a farming family and felt he should go to war so his brothers could continue to look after the farm.

'He volunteered to go and unfortunately in the Franco-Belgium border area he was a stretcher-bearer for the NZ forces and was killed by shrapnel one time while carrying back the wounded.

'But apparently he died singing hymns in English and Maori. His grave is in a little town in France.

Janet says in Tauranga Reg was very strong in helping the Salvation Army, helped back home on the farm when he could and left a trail of history from the war – including photographs, letters and postcards – by keeping up regular correspondence.

Some of his historical artefacts are used in the exhibition, which was created by Tauranga City Council's Heritage Collection.

Janet Hanna in the ‘From Tauranga to the Trenches' exhibition at Masonic Park today, which tells the story of her late uncle Reginald Watkins.

The mobile exhibition is thanks to a grant from the New Zealand Lottery Grants Board, and in partnership with WW100 Tauranga and the Hauraki Regimental Association.

Cultural heritage manager Dean Flavell believes the exhibition will provide a greater understanding of the local, national and global impact of the war and the contributions made by people of this region.

'By telling Reg's story it is hoped that the lives of all those local men who served can be honoured.”

Janet says Reg was a very kind gentleman, who cared about the welfare of others – 'so it does mean lot to us that that he has been recognised”.

'We recognised that he was an important example of the sort of men who volunteered and went and gave their lives so we can have a better world – and he would have been delighted with the development of Tauranga.”

Tauranga Field of Remembrance coordinator Paul Anderson says 107 men from Tauranga killed in action during the First World War volunteered to keep the world safe for future generations.

'The field means these men are not forgotten. It's 100 years since the start of WWI – and if you think about it there was 100,000 NZ men who went to the war, and that represented about 10 per cent of the country's population,” says Paul.

'Of those 100,000 the number killed was 18,000 – which was 18 per cent and had a big impact on ZN at the time.

'You could say just about everyone knew someone who'd lost someone.”

The late Samuel Pemberton's niece Doreen Robinson , 85, and great niece Ann Baker, 75, with his cross at Masonic Park.

Paul also thinks the crosses and exhibition give a vivid message to younger genrations.

'When you see them in group like that it becomes very moving to know we lost all those men, because at the time Tauranga's population was 1400-1500 – so 170 was a lot of men to lose.”

Paul says the crosses will stand in the park for about two weeks before going into storage for further WW100 commemorative events.

'It's just nice Uncle Reg's name is among those Tauranga me who served and were lost,” says Janet.

Following the two-week slot at Masonic Park the exhibition containers will be transported to a variety of locations around the city, including schools, marae, rest homes and RSAs.

A book called ‘From Tauranga to the Trenches' has also been compiled by Tauranga Heritage Collection coordinator Fiona Kean to accompany the exhibition.

Exhibition opening times are 10am-4pm from Monday to Friday, and 10am-2pm on Saturdays.