Whanganui Chronicle
  • Whanganui Chronicle home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Taranaki
  • National Park
  • Whakapapa
  • Ohakune
  • Raetihi
  • Taihape
  • Marton
  • Feilding
  • Palmerston North

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • New Plymouth
  • Whanganui
  • Palmertson North
  • Levin

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Whanganui Chronicle

Nephew remembers lost uncles

By Anne-Marie Emerson; anne-marie.emerson@wanganuichronicle.co.nz
Whanganui Chronicle·
24 Apr, 2013 08:11 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Their names are on Wanganui's World War II memorial, but now Mowhanau resident John Carson has his own memorial to his two uncles who never came home from the war.

Stanley Carson, 23, was killed in 1943 during a skirmish in Tunisia. His older brother, Adrian, 32, died in England in 1944, when his plane iced up and crashed during a thunderstorm.

Both men are buried in the countries where they died.

Mr Carson said a few years ago he asked one of his cousins about his uncles' war medals. The cousin's wife found them and gave them to Mr Carson.

He decided the men's stories were a piece of family history that needed to be preserved.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

With a piece of windfall rimu that he found at Kai Iwi beach, he made a plaque for the two men's photos, some information about them, and their medals. Stanley Carson had four medals, while Adrian Carson had six, including a gallantry medal and the Distinguished Flying Medal.

A secret compartment at the back of the plaque, held in place by screws, contains Adrian's flying diary.

"It took me a couple of years to plan it all and make it," Mr Carson said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He never knew his uncles - he was just a baby when they went off to the war - but he has gleaned plenty of information about them from his family.

They were from a large family of 14 children, and grew up in Marton, although the family later moved to a farm at Brunswick. There were eight boys, but only two went to war.

Mr Carson said knowing two of her boys were fighting the Germans must have been particularly hard for his grandmother.

"She was from Bavaria, and I always wondered how she felt about her sons going to war against Germany," he said.

Both men died unmarried, but Mr Carson said Stanley Carson was engaged to a Wanganui woman who later married someone else.

"Her first name was Sylvia, and she lived in Springvale, but no one in the family can remember her surname. If she is still around, we'd love to meet her."

Adrian Carson's name is mentioned on at least three war memorials - in Wanganui, Brunswick, and the Chatham Islands, where he worked before joining the Air Force.

Mr Carson said he hopes to one day pass the plaque on to his oldest grandson. Meanwhile, it holds pride of place on a wall in his home.

"This is not about me. It's about my uncles. These are family stories that I felt really needed to be told."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui Chronicle

Body of missing man found

Whanganui Chronicle

End of the line for former St George's School buildings

Whanganui Chronicle

Netball: Kaierau edge Pirates in thrilling Premier 1 clash


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Body of missing man found
Whanganui Chronicle

Body of missing man found

Kahu Gill's body was recovered near the Cobham Bridge on July 14.

16 Jul 08:34 PM
End of the line for former St George's School buildings
Whanganui Chronicle

End of the line for former St George's School buildings

16 Jul 06:00 PM
Netball: Kaierau edge Pirates in thrilling Premier 1 clash
Whanganui Chronicle

Netball: Kaierau edge Pirates in thrilling Premier 1 clash

16 Jul 05:00 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Whanganui Chronicle e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Whanganui Chronicle
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP