Private Jason Menhennet was one of six military personnel who died on Mount Ruapehu 32 years ago while on an Army training exercise.
His name was spelt wrong on the memorial plaque and adding to the family's grief, a rescuer later told them that two of the men were left alive on the mountain during the rescue.
They fear Jason was one of them.
It's been over three decades since Ingrid Menhennet's only brother died on Mount Ruapehu. Her grief is still raw, her questions unanswered.
"It's been 32 years and we still haven't been given the full information released, regarding exactly what happened on Mount Ruapehu," Ingrid said.
Private Menhennet died on the mountain during an Army training exercise where 13 went up, but only seven came down alive.
The rest died in an unexpected ferocious blizzard.
But Private Menhennet's family has lingering questions about his final moments on that mountain, which stemmed from a bombshell dropped on them on the 25th anniversary of the tragedy.
"One of the rescuers actually said about leaving two alive and because of that I spent years trying to find that truth out," Ingrid said.
"It's horrible and I think if he was left alive, was he unconscious or what if he wasn't unconscious and what if it was because he couldn't walk and did he lie there and die knowing that others had been taken."
A Military Court of Inquiry was carried out but Ingrid says she can't access certain documents.
"You can't live in the past and you do move forward. But it would be good if I could have full access to the documents that will not be released to me," she said.
She says she's written numerous letters to the Defence Force, Ministry of Defence and the Government. But to no avail.
"Due to the privacy law the Defence Force won't release that information, I did come across footage recently from the news - from way back then - that gives me my own speculation that yes two were alive," Ingrid said.
In a statement, the Defence Force told Newshub that the Court of Inquiry into the tragedy was carried out in 1990 and as conveyed via the Minister of Defence in 2018, the evidence was reviewed and there was nothing to suggest anyone left on the mountain was alive at the time of the rescue.
"Makes you sad when you see little boy photos... [He] didn't get a chance to get his own little boy," Private Menhennet's mum said.
Either way, this family lost their only boy in that tragedy and while they don't have closure yet, they do hold some special memories.
