RNZRSA 90th Anniversary

On 28 April 2006, the members of the RNZRSA National Executive who were meeting at Wellington attended a Remembrance and Thanksgiving Ceremony at the National War Memorial to mark the 90th Anniversary of the founding of the New Zealand Returned Soldiers’ Association (as the RNZRSA was originally known).
 

REMEMBERING OUR FOUNDERS: Members of the RNZRSA National Executive and National Headquarters staff present at the National War Memorial Service.

The National Executive was joined by other dignitaries, veterans, current Defence Force personnel, and by a class from the South Wellington Intermediate School. The class was on a visit to the National War Memorial as part of their history course.

Officiating at the service were Colonel (Chaplain) Stephen Carney QHC, Principal Defence Chaplain, and the Reverend Harvey Dalton from Thames.
 

YOUNG AND OLD REMEMBER: Clockwise from top left: Officiating Chaplins (L-R) Rev. Harvey Dalton and Padre Stephen Carney; Otago-Southland District President Brian Bennett places a poppy at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, assisted by two of the school pupils; each of the school pupils were give a poppy to place at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior after the service.

Following this marking of the birth of the RNZRSA, the National Executive commemorated the award of the RNZRSA Badge in Gold to wartime heroine Nancy Wake (see story), and posed for a group photograph under one of the original founders.
 

THEN AND NOW: Under the gaze of the original founders some of the current National Executive mark the 90th Anniversary of Founders Day.