Post by corsair67 on Aug 17, 2006 9:53:39 GMT 12
From the Marlborough Express.
Plaque recalls wartime army camp
16 August 2006
By ROBERT SMITH.
Their building might have been demolished, but a little piece of the RSA's clubrooms has survived out at RNZAF Base Woodbourne.
Yesterday members of the Marlborough Returned Services Association presented a special plaque to the RNZAF.
The plaque has been placed in the Delta Lounge at the base.
The RSA had originally been given the plaque in 1995 to commemorate the Delta military camp in Marlborough during World War 2.
It was exactly 11 years to the day yesterday that the plaque was given to the RSA to mark the 50th anniversary of VJ Day.
Wing Commander Dave Green, who accepted the plaque on behalf of the RNZAF, said it was a pleasure for the staff at Base Woodbourne to have such a strong association with the RSA, with much of their furniture and memorabilia, including their artillery gun, being stored on base until the new combined clubs building was completed.
Wg Cdr Green said the Delta military camp and RNZAF station formed the base for almost everything the RNZAF had done in the region since the war.
Marlborough RSA president Royd Woolf said he could still remember seeing the camp grow as a schoolboy.
"Whenever I would come down the Wairau Valley road, there would always be something a bit different going on."
The Delta camp was originally built by the NZ Army, but was soon transferred to the RNZAF and at one time was the largest RNZAF installation in the country, with about 4000 personnel.
Consisting of seven different camps, it was shut down after the war, with many of its buildings sent around the country and used as schoolrooms and logging huts and even houses.
The plaque presented to the RNZAF yesterday is a replica of one on the corner of Waihopai Valley Rd and the West Coast Rd, where the Delta camp once stood.
Mr Woolf said he could not think of a more fitting place for the second plaque than the Delta Lounge.
It is now a permanent feature of the building and will remain even after the RSA's new premises are built, although the artillery gun which used to sit outside the RSA building on Alfred St will only be at the base temporarily.
Plaque recalls wartime army camp
16 August 2006
By ROBERT SMITH.
Their building might have been demolished, but a little piece of the RSA's clubrooms has survived out at RNZAF Base Woodbourne.
Yesterday members of the Marlborough Returned Services Association presented a special plaque to the RNZAF.
The plaque has been placed in the Delta Lounge at the base.
The RSA had originally been given the plaque in 1995 to commemorate the Delta military camp in Marlborough during World War 2.
It was exactly 11 years to the day yesterday that the plaque was given to the RSA to mark the 50th anniversary of VJ Day.
Wing Commander Dave Green, who accepted the plaque on behalf of the RNZAF, said it was a pleasure for the staff at Base Woodbourne to have such a strong association with the RSA, with much of their furniture and memorabilia, including their artillery gun, being stored on base until the new combined clubs building was completed.
Wg Cdr Green said the Delta military camp and RNZAF station formed the base for almost everything the RNZAF had done in the region since the war.
Marlborough RSA president Royd Woolf said he could still remember seeing the camp grow as a schoolboy.
"Whenever I would come down the Wairau Valley road, there would always be something a bit different going on."
The Delta camp was originally built by the NZ Army, but was soon transferred to the RNZAF and at one time was the largest RNZAF installation in the country, with about 4000 personnel.
Consisting of seven different camps, it was shut down after the war, with many of its buildings sent around the country and used as schoolrooms and logging huts and even houses.
The plaque presented to the RNZAF yesterday is a replica of one on the corner of Waihopai Valley Rd and the West Coast Rd, where the Delta camp once stood.
Mr Woolf said he could not think of a more fitting place for the second plaque than the Delta Lounge.
It is now a permanent feature of the building and will remain even after the RSA's new premises are built, although the artillery gun which used to sit outside the RSA building on Alfred St will only be at the base temporarily.
