Memorial for school’s old boys killed in WWII
The names of 227 former students of a New Plymouth school who were killed in World War II will soon be remembered in bronze alongside those who died in WWI.
The young men, many of them airmen, have been remembered in a book in the New Plymouth Boys’ High School chapel, and in the rows of crosses beside the school for the past two Anzac Day commemorations.
Early next year they will get a permanent, public memorial.
The $35,000 monument, dubbed the Valour Project, will see their names on four new bronze plaques on the school’s memorial gates on Coronation Ave.
It is a joint effort between the school, the old boys’ association and the NZ Remembrance Army.
Teacher Aaron Lock said when he initiated placing the crosses for Anzac Day, he realised how many former students the school had lost, yet only those who died in WWI were mentioned on the school’s imposing memorial gates.
‘‘It’s sad that we lost so many old boys of the school. When you see their crosses there, the boys get the feeling for what the sacrifice was.
‘‘Every generation is one more removed from the war and what that means.
‘‘Over 1400 boys every day walk through those gates, and will see the names. It’s a fitting tribute to them.’’
The memorial will be unveiled at a full assembly on April 26 on the school’s top field.
Simon Strombom, former army major and chief executive of the NZ Remembrance Army, said Veterans Affairs had already donated $5000 towards the memorial, the New Plymouth RSA was contributing $5000, and AMP New Zealand had given $20,000.
The school has a Givealittle page to raise the rest, and is hoping former students and their families, and people with connections to the soldiers remembered on the gates will contribute.
There are nine sets of brothers among the WWII soldiers, and quite a few who were decorated.
There are also three WWI soldiers who were awarded the Military Cross, but are missing from the memorial wall.
At the time, flying and joining the air force was seen as quite a glamorous activity, and the school must have had a good maths department as more than half the men who died had gone into the air force, Strombom said.
‘‘It was a pretty brutal air war. The losses of New Zealand air crew were horrific. It shows how rudimentary the planes were. A lot were killed in crashes, through weather and navigation issues. It’s quite a little snapshot of Taranaki in the 1940s and the impact of the war on Taranaki. It’s sad, actually.’’
Strombom was also working with the New Plymouth and South Taranaki RSAS to have the war memorials in New Plymouth and Hāwera updated to include WWII soldiers.