Pukekohe East Second World War memorial plot

Pukekohe East Second World War memorial plot

Memorial Memorial Memorial Memorial Memorial

The Pukekohe East Second World War memorial plot was unveiled on 19 November 1947. It was a fenced area in front of the Pukekohe East hall which enclosed a flagpole and four memorial trees. Bronze memorial plaques were mounted on crosses in front of the trees, one for each of the four men from the district who had been killed in action during the war: Privates A.L. McQuoid, F. James and Bassett Carter, and Flying-Officer Ivan William Holmes.

At an unknown date—possibly when the hall was rebuilt and reopened as the Pukekohe East Community Centre in 1959—the plaques were instead set into several large boulders set up on one corner of the tennis courts beside the hall. These plaques were removed for safe-keeping in 2006 and are now in storage.

The Pukekohe East First and Second World War rolls of honour are preserved inside the community centre.

A photo board with portraits of Carter, Holmes and C. Whitmore (as ex-pupils of Pukekohe East School who had given their lives) also hangs in the old Pukekohe East School building, now part of the Pukekohe East Playcentre, on Runciman Road, at some distance from the hall.

Sources: ‘Pukekohe East News and Notes’, Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, 24/6/1919, p. 3; ‘Pukekohe East: Unveiling of Roll of Honour’, Franklin & Pukekohe Times, 14/11/1919, p. 3; 'War memorial dedication ceremony', Franklin Times, 19/11/1947, p. 2; N.M. Morris, A History of Pukekohe East, 1963-1963, Pukekohe, 1963, pp. 28-9; The Original Pukekohe, ed. Susanne Stone, Pukekohe East, 2005, pp. 99-102, 187-90.

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