The Ōkaiawa First World War memorial is a marble statue of a soldier standing at ease on a stepped concrete pedestal mounted on a base of river stones. It was unveiled on or around Anzac Day 1922, and is situated near the entrance to Joll Park (which also contains a memorial to local benefactor Thomas Langton Joll). The war memorial lists the names of 11 local men who fell in the Great War. There is an individual memorial to one of them, Frank Williams, in the nearby Ōkaiawa Cemetery.
A First World War roll of honour had been unveiled at Ōkaiawa School in 1919, listing the names of two ex-pupils who had been killed in action, R. Harris and E. Harrison, and 39 others who had served. The school closed in 2009 and the whereabouts of the roll of honour is uncertain. A First World War roll of honour which was unveiled in the local Anglican church, St Aidan’s, on 3 October 1920 is now held at St Mary’s Church, Hawera, as are two other rolls of honour from the church.
See: ‘Okaiawa’, Hawera & Normanby Star, 2/10/1920, p. 4; ‘Okiawa: Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial’, Hawera & Normanby Star, 30/11/1920, p. 4; ‘Okaiawa’, Hawera & Normanby Star, 14/2/1922, p. 2; Okaiawa School 75th Jubilee Souvenir Booklet, 1958; A.P.C. Bromley, Hawera: An Outline of the Development of a New Zealand Community, Hawera, 1981, p. 185; ‘Okaiawa War Memorial’, Kete New Plymouth; ‘Joll Park’, Kete New Plymouth ; ‘Williams Memorial’, Kete New Plymouth.
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