Theresa Butler (in the second row, with her hand to her face) was one of only four New Zealand military personnel to be awarded the 1914 Star for service during the First World War. Few New Zealanders received this award because the New Zealand Expeditionary Force did not fight during the eligibility period.

Butler was the first New Zealand nurse to serve in the First World War. She was on holiday in England when the war broke out, and she joined the Red Cross and nursed in Belgium in 1914. She went back to New Zealand in December 1914 but returned to the battlefields with a group of New Zealand nurses in 1915. This is Butler during an Anzac Day parade in the 1950s. Her clutch of medals is clearly visible on her lapel.