The Land Component Commander Brigadier John Boswell and Brian Harrington, whose name is on the Roll of Honour at the National War Museum in Wellington, despite the fact he is still alive.

A Malayan Campaign veteran was amused to discover he has been listed as dead for half a century.

Brian Harrington, 82, from Waiau in Canterbury told Army News NZ he recently found out his name has been included in the Roll of Honour at the National War Memorial in Wellington for more than 50 years.

Harrington is very much still alive and living with his wife, Jean.

"Yeah, someone rang me a couple of weeks ago to tell me my name was there. I laughed my head off – I feel bloody dead at times, but as you can see I'm not. It doesn't worry me at all," said Harrington.

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A group of Malayan Emergency veterans approached the curator of the Pukeahu National War Memorial late last year to ask who Private BJ Harrington was.

This prompted them to enlist the help of New Zealand Defence Force historian John Crawford, who began investigating why Harrington's name was included in the Malayan Campaign section of the Roll of Honour.

According to Army News NZ, Harrington served in Malaya between 1957 and 1959 as a dog handler in the Malayan Emergency. He returned to New Zealand and was eventually discharged from the Army's Regular Force in 1960.

Rolls of honour are compiled to record the names of those who lost their lives in a conflict.

The Chief of Defence Force, Lieutenant General Tim Keating has since apologised to Harrington.

An NZDF spokesperson told Stuff there are more than 30,000 names on the Roll of Honour.

"The names associated with service in Malaysia were added 50 years ago. When we received the query about Mr Harrington's name being on the Roll of Honour we investigated it and rectified the error. We have been unable to find the documentation that led to Mr Harrington's name being added."

Stuff understands Harrington's name has now been removed from the roll. The physical page which had his name on is being reprinted and the new page will be inserted at the National War Memorial.

"We do, however, continue to update the Roll of Honour. The Defence Historian, John Crawford, has investigated a number of cases where individuals have been left off. This primarily relates to First World War service," said the spokesperson.