War vet’s French honour
A World War II navigator has been awarded the French Legion of Honour in recognition of his contribution to the liberation of France and its people.
Raymond Tait, who lived at Tapeka Point in Russell for 40 years, was awarded for his time as an navigator in Lancaster bombers in the Royal Air Force.
He flew in a series of bomber raids attacking German armaments and key industrial sites. Tait, 93, now lives in Kerikeri.
‘‘I was not really expecting this award after all of this time,’’ Tait says. ’’I was very proud to receive it.’’
The award was presented by the Honorary Consul of France, Etienne Moly, at Auckland’s MOTAT museum, in front of an Avro Lancaster - the same type of aircraft bomber Tait flew in.
Tait’s daughter Jenny Jones says it was special to see her father presented with the award on June 27.
‘‘It was a great honour for him to receive it and and a great honour seeing it be presented to him.’’
Jones says her father was like a kid with a lollipop.
‘‘He was so bright and bubbly and excited, and having all of the family and everyone there was wonderful.’’
Jones says six months ago her father was taken to MOTAT, where he climbed up into the Lancaster, to the navigator’s pos- ition, a spot he hadn’t occupied since the war.
Tait enlisted in the air force, aged 18, in 1943. He trained mostly in Canada, before flying in the No.75(NZ) SQN RAF, mainly over France and Germany. He says he was tasked with getting the lead plane from A to B and finding the targets.
Jones says Glen Turner, the treasurer/secretary of the No.75(NZ) SQN RAF, had applied for the medals for her father.
Tait returned home in 1945, where he worked as a stock agent before purchasing around 700 acres of shrub land, in Lichfield, South Waikato, which he turned to pasture for sheep and cattle. Tait and his wife Keitha, then retired to Tapeka Point, to fulfil their dream of learning how to sail.
Jones says the last boat the couple, who were married for nearly 70 years, had was a Lotus 9.2 named Trendsetter, which they would sail for months at a time along NZ’s East Coast.