10 Jun 2025

Simon Strombom on his drive to maintaining the graves

From Nine To Noon, 9:35 am on 10 June 2025

Cleaning and tidying the graves of former service personnel has become a passion for Simon Strombom.

The retired major left the army in 2013 after a career that included a tour in Afghanistan that earned him a Distinguished Service Decoration.

Now he has been awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit for founding the New Zealand Remembrance Army, which has worked to identify and restore tens of thousands of graves around the country.