Spitfire marks unveiling

A World War II Spitfire will fly overhead as a memorial to 227 former New Plymouth Boys’ High School students, many of them airmen, who died in WWII is unveiled.

The New Zealand Remembrance Army has organised the aerial tribute as part of the $35,000 Valour Project, which will see four new bronze plaques with the names of the WWII fallen added to the school’s memorial gates on Coronation Ave, beside those killed in WWI.

The project is a joint effort between the school, its old boys’ association and the NZ Remembrance Army, which has found sponsorship to pay for the historic flight.

NZ Remembrance Army founder and former army major Simon Strombom said the Spitfire would fly from Ohakea, passing over Whanganui, Hāwera, Stratford and other towns on the way to New Plymouth, then make two passes over the assembly on the school’s top field during the dedication on April 26.

Strombom is a former student of the school, as were his father and grandfather.

Two of his great-uncles, Martin Rea and Gerald Rawson, are among the old boys whose names will soon go up on the gates.

‘‘Gerald was shot down in a Spitfire during a typhoon.’’

Another great-uncle, David Rawson, survived the war, and he was the inspiration for Strombom to join the army.

He served in Afghanistan in 2008 and received a Distinguished Service Medal.

As well as updating the gates at the school, the names of soldiers who died in WWII are being added to the war memorials in Hāwera and New Plymouth in time for Anzac Day next year. A plaque to remember a soldier who died in 2015 will also be added to the Boys’ High gates, Strombom said.

Captain Daniel Thompson, 29, served in Timor-Leste and Afghanistan. He died of a suspected heart attack after his return to New Zealand.

Thompson had been a boarder at the school, and some of his family would travel to attend the unveiling, Strombom said.

Veterans Affairs had already donated $5000 towards the Valour project, the New Plymouth RSA gave $5000, and AMP New Zealand gave $20,000.

The school has a Givealittle page to raise the rest.

VANESSA LAURIE/ STUFF Simon Strombom is behind a project to get the names of former New Plymouth Boys’ High School students who died during WWII added to the school’s memorial gates. His great-uncle Gerald Rawson, pictured in the portrait, was a spitfire pilot who once shot down by a German bomber during WWII and is one of the names that will be added.