Brothers finally honoured
Two Taranaki WWI soldiers who were left off a local memorial on suspicion of German sympathies have now been given their rightful recognition.
George and Herman Bollinger were born in New Zealand and grew up in the tiny town of Omata, just outside New Plymouth.
The brothers fought and died in World War I as Kiwi soldiers.
But when their hometown put up a memorial for the soldiers who served, their names were not included because of their father’s German heritage.
One hundred years later Omata School principal Karen Brisco tasked a group of students to find how they could make it right for the one-time pupils of their school.
Once the facts were confirmed they contacted the New Plymouth District Council to have the brother’s names engraved on the memorial.
On Friday, at a ceremony at the War Memorial, Brisco apologised for the actions of the community a century before.
She said the boys grew up in Omata, played with neighbours, and then fought for and died for New Zealand.
‘‘Prejudice at the time resulted in an injustice. It is fitting that the children of Omata School put this right, albeit 100 years later.’’
The Friday service saw the four students who worked on the project explain what their research had led them to do.
Charnee Julian, 13, described how they had contacted the Bollingers’ relatives before Charlotte Butler, 13, unveiled the names.
Vaydim Noonan, 13, read the
Ode of Remembrance and Kyarne Broughton Pratt, 12, then read it again in te reo.
The song It’s A Long Way To Tipperary was also sung, with one chorus changed to It’s a Long Way to Taranaki, and the senior class performed a haka.
Charlotte said the ceremony was very moving.
‘‘It really opened our eyes to see that there are things that go wrong and we need to change them.’’
Henrietta Bollinger – the great-great-niece of Herman and George – spoke on behalf of the family, members of whom had come from across the North Island to attend.
It was her article about her uncles, published in a school journal, that led to the research project that brought about the addition of the two brothers’ names.
‘‘You don’t expect that people are going to pick your family stories up and run with them and find significance in them for themselves and their own community.’’
People had to be careful about not drawing boundaries around who did and who didn’t count, she said.
‘‘These two young men being rejected by their community – this to me is the community accepting them.’’