On Saturday, more than 100 of his relatives gathered at the Great War Exhibition in the Dominion Museum Building in Wellington to remember the man who brought back more than just the physical scar a German bullet left.
In a tribute, Sir Peter Jackson, whose company, WingNut Films Productions, built the exhibition, presented the family with a signed colourised World War 1 image.
Mr O'Malley's granddaughter, Emma Bradley, said she organised the event to help the family better understand her grandfather.
``The thing for me is he suffered from depression as a result of his injuries and struggled with alcohol and wasn't always very nice to be around.''
``So the idea behind this gathering is for his family to understand the reasons behind why he was the way he was.''
When Mr O'Malley returned to New Zealand after his service, he married his wife, Dorothy, settled on a farm in the Maniototo and they had 11 children.
Mrs Bradley said her grandfather and grandmother produced a ``mammoth'' family tree with more than 80 direct descendants, many of whom gathered in Wellington at the weekend.
``He was one of the lucky ones to come back and we are all here because of that, so it's nice to pay tribute to him and the others who weren't so lucky.''
