Pukekohe First World War memorial. This memorial was moved to its present site in April 1980. The second image shows the memorial in its original location in 1921.
On 6 November 1921 Prime Minister William Massey unveiled the Pukekohe First World War memorial. The war memorial gates were situated on a plot of land donated by Mr William Roulston on the eastern side of the railway line. They included a column inset with a bas relief sculpture of a soldier holding a flag. This was later replaced by an alternative version, for which a local returned soldier, W.J. (Bill) Short, had reputedly served as the model.
In April 1980 the memorial column was relocated from Roulston Park to the Pukekohe War Memorial Town Hall to enable the town's commemorative ceremonies to be held on a single site. During the 1980 Anzac Day ceremony, Mr Short laid a wreath on behalf of the First World War veterans present.
The sixty names of Pukekohe's First World War fallen can be found on a memorial chaplet (chapelet) at the Pukekohe returned soldiers' lawn cemetery in Wellington Street.
For further information relating to this memorial, see: 'Roulston War Memorial Park', Franklin & Pukekohe Times, 21/9/20, supp. p. 1; 'War Memorial Gates: Mr Massey at Pukekohe', NZ Herald, 7/11/21, p. 3; 'Pukekohe War Memorial: Opened by Prime Minister: Impressive Ceremony', Franklin Times, 8/11/21, p. 5; 'War Memorial Changes Place', Franklin Courier, 9/4/80, p. 3; 'He Laid a Wreath at His Own Feet', Central Courier South Auckland Section, 22/7/80, pp. 1, 31; 'The Face Behind the War Memorial', Franklin County News, 30/11/99, p. 4; Ernie Alexander, 'Memorial Caused Uproar', Franklin County News, 10/7/2008, p. 14.
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