Farmer looks for veteran’s family
A Southland man wants to return a war veteran’s first aid kit, and what he believes to be the serviceman’s diary, to his relatives.
Orawia farmer Rodney Crack bought both items for $40 at a rare collection of memorabilia auctioned in the past two months by William Todd & Co, on behalf of Janice Goldsmith, of Mabel Bush, and her late husband Milne.
Crack would like to give the first aid kit and diary to relatives of Kennedy, but he has had no luck in locating them.
The first aid kit has a World War II soldier’s name on it, E Kennedy #378052, but the diary does not. One possibility is Ernest William Kennedy, who was from Southland.
’’If I can’t find them, I’ll give them to an RSA or a museum,’’ he said.
Kennedy died on October 1, 1992, at age 71. He shares a grave with his wife Dulcie and son Ronald at Eastern Cemetery in Invercargill.
The online cenotaph Auckland War Memorial records showed Kennedy was a carpenter’s apprentice in Invercargill before enlisting with the army. His next of kin was Mrs J Kennedy, of Mary St, Otautau.
Crack’s research led him to believe Kennedy served in the Pacific and was a member of the 1st Ruahine Regiment.
Goldsmith said the first aid kit and diary were bought by her husband Milne from the Kennedy family in the 1960s.
The couple bought World War I and II memorabilia from the family, but Goldsmith did not know whether the diary belonged to Ernest William Kennedy.
Goldsmith has held two auctions on her property in preparation to move to Dunedin. Crack went to one of the auctions out of curiosity because it was advertised as a unique opportunity to buy rare memorabilia.
‘‘I wasn’t going to buy anything, then this box caught my eye with a first aid kit and diary in it,’’ Crack said.
‘‘I thought, ‘should I buy this or not’?’’ On a back page of the diary there are pen marks beside names – Alison, Norma, Thelma, Trevor and grandma – and Crack thought the soldier was keeping a record of whom he had sent letters to.
On the first page of the diary it says: ‘‘Embarking, Day of Sailing, 24 December 1942. Up at 4 o’clock. Raining like hell. Left for train at 7.30, stood in rain for 1/2hr and cursed the army and everything connected with it. Long train journey to Wellington, 100 miles. At each station there were plenty of girls to greet us. Arrived at Wellington, 11 o’clock. The train pulled into the station and then to the wharf. HQ embarked first, all in alphabetical order.’’
■ Can you help this Southland farmer track down the Kennedy relatives to reunite this diary with family? Email reporter Jamie Searle, jamie.searle@stuff.co.nz.