Royal New Zealand Navy World War II veteran Ken Gordon, pictured with a framed letter he received from King Charles this year, will be honoured at Sunday's Combined Services Remembrance Day service.
Royal New Zealand Navy World War II veteran Ken Gordon, pictured with a framed letter he received from King Charles this year, will be honoured at Sunday's Combined Services Remembrance Day service.
Sunday’s Combined Services Remembrance Day service in Gisborne will commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and honour veterans such as “living legend” Ken Gordon.
The WWII Royal New Zealand Navy veteran, aged 98, will be present with daughter Fiona and son Alister at the serviceto be held outside the Returned and Services Association (RSA) rooms.
Guest speaker Jack Donnelly, BEM, a 34-year veteran of the Navy, told the Gisborne Herald he would speak of Gordon’s “very graphic and descriptive story”.
Donnelly said Gordon was a living legend who served on HMNZS Gambia and witnessed the historic moment when the Japanese signed the armistice on USS Missouri in September 1945, ending WWII and bringing peace to the world.
Also at the service will be one of Gordon’s “young trainees”, Tuwhakairiora “Toti” Tukhaka, QSM, a veteran of the Korean War in the early 1950s.
Donnelly said one of the most poignant segments of the service would be the March to Remember by Gisborne veterans.
“They march for those who no longer march and in the footsteps of those who are no longer with us. Their pride, discipline and bearing will shine through.
“We thank them for their service. There can be no greater tribute than to learn what they did.”
The guest speaker for the Combined Services Remembrance Day service on Sunday morning outside the Gisborne RSA is 34-year Royal New Zealand Navy veteran Jack Donnelly, BEM.
Sunday’s Combined Services Remembrance Day will start with a parade of former and current service personnel, emergency services personnel and cadet forces, who will assemble at Plumbing World at 10.50am before parading to the RSA.
