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In 1943 the New Zealand War Cemetery was established at Bourail, New Caledonia. The cemetery contains graves of men who died in the South Pacific, including those of 242 New Zealand servicemen.
On Sunday 8 May 1955, the Cross of Sacrifice was unveiled by Major General Sir Harold Barrowclough at the cemetery. The memorial commemorates 282 New Zealand servicemen and 169 Western Pacific local forces who have no known grave.
Announcer E. V. Spencer introduces the programme and explains the significance of the Cross of Sacrifice. He describes the cemetery, and the memorial's appearance.
The cross is located at the far end of the cemetery, set in a circular bed of pebbles around 50 feet across, on a triple-tiered white plinth. A reversed Crusader’s sword is set into the face of the cross and there is another on the rear, looking down onto a curving white wall with nine bronze panels. On the panels are inscribed the names of those Pacific servicemen, mainly from the Royal New Zealand Airforce, whose graves “are known only to God”.
E. V. Spencer then describes the ceremony of unveiling, which was attended by French and native New Caledonians, and New Zealanders.
The actuality recorded at the ceremony opens with a local children's choir singing "Abide with Me". Then Sir Harold Barrowclough, Commander of the Third Division in the Pacific, speaks and unveils the Cross of Sacrifice. He says “this resting place for our valiant comrades has become, and will always remain, a part of New Zealand embedded in French soil”. A trumpet fanfare ends the recording.
[E. V. Spencer was a member of the New Zealand Broadcasting Service Mobile Unit in the Pacific during the war. He and Technician John Ensor were killed in a road accident returning to Noumea after recording this programme.]