Crew from HMNZS Otago will attend Anzac commemorations in the Queenstown Lakes District this weekend.
Special services will take place in Queenstown and Arrowtown to mark 100 years since the Anzac landings on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey.
Eighty-eight soldiers from the district were killed in action during the battle.
Forty-six naval personnel will arrive in Queenstown on Friday to work with local schools and volunteer for charity.
They will attend services and parades in Queenstown and Arrowtown on Saturday. Some will also attend events in Wanaka.
HMNZS Otago's commanding officer Lieutenant-commander Tim Garvan said Anzac Day was important to serving members of the New Zealand Defence Force because it was a chance to reflect on those who had served and were still serving in the military.
''The protection of freedom and liberty remains as current in today's environment as it did 100 years ago on the beaches of Gallipoli.''
A solo piper will mark the start of Queenstown's dawn service by playing Flowers to the Forest, the official traditional lament of Anzac Day.
Eighty-eight crosses will be placed around the cenotaph representing the fallen from the Wakatipu district.
Queenstown Returned Services Association president Lyall McGregor said the commemoration remembered the sacrifice of those on the front line who never came home.
''It is a milestone and a huge part of history. We need to keep that memory alive. It is an act of remembrance and we should never forget the sacrifice these men made.
''It was a most horrendous war. A massive loss of life. When the whistle blew they went over the top and ran straight into machine-gun fire. We need to remember the horror of what war was.''
Sergeant Kate Pirovano will ride a white stallion in the Queenstown parade signifying the thousands of horses lost in numerous mounted brigades.
Queenstown and Southern Lakes Highland Pipe Band, St John Wakatipu, Queenstown and Arrowtown Volunteer Fire Brigade and Salvation Army will also take part in proceedings.
A poem written through the eyes of a Turkish soldier will be read.
It was written by the great-niece of Walter McKenzie, who died at Gallipoli while serving with the Otago Infantry Battalion.
Arrowtown RSA former president John Lindsay said few New Zealanders could have imagined the magnitude of the trauma to come or the lasting impact it would have on the nation.
He said 103,000 New Zealanders served overseas in World War 1. Four years later, 18,500 had fallen.
''The price of international peace and security was massive for a small and pioneering country as we were then. Of the 290 from the Wakatipu, 88 did not return.''
Anzac Day services
6.45am: Queenstown dawn service, Queenstown Memorial Gates.
9.15am: Queenstown parade, assemble Queenstown Memorial Gates for march along Church St, Camp St, Shotover St, to Memorial Centre.
10am: Queenstown civic service, Memorial Centre.
10.30am: Arrowtown service, Athenaeum Hall.
11.30am: Arrowtown parade, from hall to cenotaph.
