WWII Wairarapa Airmen Honoured

[Dave Homewood]

From the Wairarapa Times-Age
times-age.co.nz/localnews/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3710389&thesection=localnews&thesubsection=&thesecondsubsection=

WWII airmen honoured

20.11.2006
BY JOE DAWSON

Above: Geoff Fisken with the P-40E he flew in WWII

Four years of painstaking research came to fruition on Saturday with the unveiling of an honours board commemorating Wairarapa's World War II fighter pilots.

Greytown man and former RNZAF pilot Peter Norman was asked in 2002 to put together a comprehensive list of all the Wairarapa men who fought in the air in WWII, and on Saturday 100 guests gathered to witness the unveiling of an honours board that names 240 Wairarapa-bred airmen.

Of the 240 pilots remembered on the boards, 107 died on operation, 29 were decorated and 10 were mentioned in dispatches.

The young men served overseas as aircrew in the Royal Flying Corp, the Royal Naval Air Service, the Royal Air Service, the Royal New Zealand Air Force and the Fleet Arm.

Mr Norman said among the guests were the 17 surviving wartime pilots and relatives of many others who flew for their country in the two World Wars.
"It's a big day for us," Mr Norman said. "It's taken four years to get the information of 240 men."

He said research into the men began with trips to memorials and took him into military and private family records.

A second board honouring the pilots and engineers who served with the No. 14 Fighter Squadron from its formation at Hood Aerodrome in April 1942.

From the 24 pilots who left Masterton in 1943 for the South West Pacific to fight the Japanese, three were killed, 11 decorated and 10 mentioned in dispatches.

A member of that squadron, Geoff Fisken – otherwise known as the Wairarapa Wildcat for his fighting prowess in the air – unveiled that board.

[flyjoe180]

Its great to see a town dedicating a memorial and remembering their heroes.

[Dave Homewood]

It is.

We have a memorial here in Cambridge for our Airmen and Airwomen too.

Its good to see Geoff Fisken is still going strong.

[flyjoe180]

Yeah I was actually amazed to see from that photo he doesnt look a day over 65!

[flyjoe180]

The Cambridge Memorial seems to be quite well known. Apart from the memorial being there, why do so many flypasts and services take part there? Does Cambridge have a stronger link to it's military past than say, Hamilton or Thames? Or do quite a few veterans and ex-servicemen reside in Cambridge?

[Dave Homewood]

I didn't realise that Cambridge's Air Force Memorial was that well known. The reason it is there is because I put it there. We had a reunion of airmen, WAAF's and their wives and families two years ago, which was the official launch of my Wings Over Cambridge website, that records their stories and commemorates those who were killed or died since. It was a grand occassion, about 80 vets and their spouses. The RNZAF Whenuapai Padre Ross Horton, who grew up here and has family here, came down to bless the plaque at the reunion. he did a great job. Next day at Armistice Day it was 'officially' unveiled by an Air Commodore and myself.

The flyovers by the Warbirds and this year also the Red Checkers are part of the famous Armistice in Cambridge commemorations. The aerial action is always most appreciated here by the crowds too.

As for Cambridge in relation to other towns, it's hard to say if we did anything more special in the wars. I know Cambridge had a well known reputation in WWII for the calibre of men produced here (much like now with our numerous sports stars i guess). Cambridge did produce two RNZAF aces, Bill wells and David Livingstone (Bill born and bred, David just spent most of his young life here). WWI Ace Keith Calwell also called Cambridge home for a couple of decades, including WWI.

The town also produced the likes of Roy Calvert, only bomber pilot in RNZAF to win three DFC's.

We had men from the town fighting on the first days of the first battles NZ went into in both wars, several at Gallipoli from day one, some killed there. And we had six young men fighting on the Achilles in the Battle of the River Plate - NZ's first WWII bttle - one of whom, Archie Shaw, was killed.

Yes, we do have a lot of veterans living here, it has traditionally been a town good for old people. However this is changing as more and more young families move here escaping hellholes like England or Auckland, etc., and slowly turning our sleepy town into a hellhole like they left.

I have made a study of Hamilton's Cenotaph. There are many more names on it than our own. However, it is deceptive. hamilton was aleays the bigger town (it never acheived city status till after WWII)

I noticed several names on the Hamilton memorial who were Cambridge people. I then wrote down all the names and looked them up on the CWGC site. Dozens came up as being actually from Cambridge, Matamata, Thames, even Otorohanga, etc. I guess they all had some tentative connection to Hamilton but it does seem a littele like they were cheating. Especially annoying is that some of ours are on both Cenotaphs, yet other Cambridge men were left off all together when it was mae - an awful oversight. Some are on there and spelled wrong too.

Anyway, if you've not had a look at my site, the link is in my signature below. It has a number of stories of our armen and WAAF's on it, with many more to go up when time allows.

Cheers
Dave