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    Currently serving
    While serving, the NZDF will take care of your health and wellbeing issues. If you have qualifying service, we may be able to provide you with home help. Register now with Veterans’ Affairs, and when you need some support, we’ll be ready to help you.
    Ex-serving
    We can provide you with health, rehabilitation and financial support if you have a condition related to your service. We can also provide home help assistance and financial support for you to commemorate your service.
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    Non-military personnel
    Non-military personnel can have Qualifying Operational Service in certain circumstances.
    A-Z list of services and entitlements
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    The NZ Defence Force's Personnel Archives and Medals team ​administer medals and hold most New Zealand military service records.
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    The Certificate of Appreciation and Veteran's Pin recognise operational service.
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    This series of stamps explores the stories of 6 veterans deployed after 1995. You can purchase the stamps on the NZ Post website.
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List of Operational Service under the Burial and Cremation Act 1964

You will need to have been on specific deployments to be eligible for burial in a Services Cemetery.

Last updated: 1 October 2024

Deployment or location Dates of Service
First World War (worldwide, including New Zealand) 4/8/1914 to 31/8/1921
Second World War (worldwide, including New Zealand) 3/9/1939 to 31/12/1947             
Occupation of Japan 8/1945 to 3/1949
The Malayan Emergency 18/6/1948 to 31/7/1960             
The Berlin Airlift 1/9/1948 to 11/8/1949
Service in Korea 23/8/1950 to 27/7/1957             
The United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP)              1/1/1952 to 31/3/1974
The United Nations India-Pakistan Observation Mission (UNIPOM) 1/1/1952 to 31/3/1974
The United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation (UNTSO) based in Israel 1/7/1954 to 31/3/1974
The United Nations Yemen Observer Mission (UNYOM) 1/7/1954 to 31/3/1974
The United Nations Observation Group in Lebanon (UNOGIL) 1/7/1954 to 31/3/1974
The United Nations Operation in the Congo (UNOC) 1/7/1954 to 31/3/1974
The First United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF I) on the Sinai Peninsula 1/1/1956 to 31/12/1957             
Suez Crisis 29/10/1956 to 5/11/1956
Operation Grapple
  • Malden Island
 15/5/1957 to 25/6/1957             
Operation Grapple
  • Christmas Island
  • 8/11/1957 to 16/11/1957
  • 28/4/1958 to 24/9/1958
Operation Grapple
  • within 281 kilometres of surface zero at Malden Island
  • 15/5/1957
  • 31/5/1957
  • 19/6/1957
Operation Grapple
  • within 281 kilometres of surface zero at Christmas Island
  • 8/11/1957
  • 28/4/1958
  • 22/8/1958
  • 2/9/1958
  • 11/9/1958
  • 23/9/1958
The Thai/Malay Border 31/7/1960 to mid-June 1964
Operation Scorpion 1962 to 1971
Special Logistic Aid Thailand programme 1962 to 1971
Operation Crown 1962 to 1971
Thailand Feeder Road project 1962 to 1971
Service in Viet Nam 29/5/1964 to 31/12/1972
Service in Viet Nam as part of 41 Squadron, RNZAF 1/01/1973 to 21/04/1975
The Indonesian Confrontation
  • Singapore
  • Malay Peninsula
  • Malaysia
  • Indonesia
  • Singapore Strait
  • Malacca Strait
 17/8/1964 to 11/8/1966             

The Indonesian Confrontation

  • Borneo
 1/2/1965 to 11/8/1966
Observed French nuclear tests at Mururoa Atoll 22/7/1973 and 28/7/1973
The Second United Nations Emergency Force II (UNEF II) on the Sinai Peninsula 1/10/1973 to 31/12/1979
Syria 1/1/1974 to 30/9/2026
Lebanon 1/1/1978 to 30/9/2026
Service at the New Zealand Embassy, Moscow, in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, later the Russian Federation 1/08/1978 to 31/07/1992
The Commonwealth Monitoring Force (Operation Midford) in Rhodesia 23/12/1979 to 5/3/1980             
Sinai Peninsula 25/4/1982 to 30/09/2026
Indian Ocean 21/6/1982 to 20/9/1983             
Afghanistan
  • 25/4/1988 to 31/12/1991
  • 1/12/2001 to 30/9/2021 
Pakistan 25/4/1988 to 31/12/1991
The United Nations Iran-Iraq Military Observer Group (UNIIMOG) 1/7/1988 to 28/2/1991
Namibia 1/9/1989 to 31/3/1990
The Gulf Conflict 18/12/1990 to 13/4/1991
Operation Big Talk 29/7/1990 to 5/8/1990
Iraq 1/7/1988 to 30/6/2023         
Angola 1/7/1991 to 30/6/1999
Cambodia 1/10/1991 to 30/4/2005
Former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 01/01/1992 up to and including 31/07/2019
Somalia
  • 1/1/1993 to 31/3/1995
  • 1/9/2011 to 30/4/2016
Mozambique 1/2/1994 to 30/6/2005
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Rwanda Mission 1/7/1994 to 30/9/1994
The South Pacific Peacekeeping Force (SPPKF) in Bougainville 1/9/1994 to 31/10/1994             
The United Nations Mission in Haiti (UNMIH) 19/9/1994 to 31/3/1995             
Multinational Interception Force 1/8/1995 to 31/11/1999             
Operation Coracle 1/7/1997 to 31/7/1997
Laos 1/7/1997 to 31/5/2003
Bougainville 1/10/1997 to 30/6/2003
United Nations Command Military Armistice Commission - Korea 1998 to current
Coalition Joint Task Force - Kuwait 1998 to 2000
The tsunami in Papua New Guinea 1/7/1998 to 31/7/1998
Sierra Leone 1/8/1998 to 30/6/2005
Timor-Leste 01/08/1999 up to and including 31/07/2019
Solomon Islands 01/04/2000 up to and including 31/07/2019          
Gulf of Oman 1/3/2003 to 31/7/2003
United Arab Emirates 1/3/2003 to 30/9/2008
Arabian Sea
  • 1/3/2003 to 31/7/2003
  • 1/4/2004 to 31/8/2004
  • 1/5/2008 to 31/8/2008
Bahrain
  • 1/3/2003 to 31/8/2004
  • 1/5/2008 to 31/8/2008
  • Gulf of Aden
  • Red Sea
  • States in the Horn of Africa
  • Saudi Arabia
  • Yemen
 1/4/2004 to 31/8/2004
Persian Gulf 1/5/2008 to 31/8/2008
Service with the United Nations in the State of Israel 30/6/2003 to 27/11/2008
Kyrgyz Republic 1/8/2003 to 30/9/2003
Operation Sumatra Assist in Indonesia 27/12/2004 to 28/2/2005
The United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) 17/9/2005 to 9/7/2011
South Sudan 9/7/2011 to 30/9/2026
Mali
  • 1/03/2018 to 31/3/2019
  • 15/7/2020 to 31/12/2020

Burial in a Services Cemetery

  • List of Operational Service under the Burial and Cremation Act 1964
Last Modified: 17 January 2024
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