Whanganui war hero James Ward honoured with new book

Bob Moore's definitive biography on Whanganui airman James Allen Ward VC was launched in Whanganui this week.

A brave airman clings to the damaged wing of a burning WWII fighter plane in midair.

The Peter McIntyre painting in the Sarjeant Gallery collection depicts an event that occurred in the sky above Münster, Germany on July 7, 1941, and the brave airman was Sergeant James Allen Ward of Whanganui, who would successfully prevent the Vickers Wellington bomber from catching fire and save his crew that night.

The 22-year-old was later summoned to 10 Downing Street where he was awarded the Victoria Cross by Prime Minister Winston Churchill "in recognition of most conspicuous bravery".

The assembly hall at City College is named after Ward and this week it was the venue for the launch of Courage Aflame - Bob Moore's definitive biography of the young Whanganui teacher who was killed in action just weeks after his act of bravery.

Ward attended the school which was then named Wanganui Technical College.

By the 1980s it was named Wanganui Boys' College when Bob Moore became a senior master there.

He became deeply interested in Ward's story and would begin almost 40 years of research on James Allen Ward VC which has included consultation with Ward's sisters and the Army Museum at Waiouru which led to the creation of the James Allen Ward memorial display in the City College foyer.

The cover of the book.

Moore's 304-page, hardbound book covers Ward's life from his birth to his death and includes more than 100 photographs as well as 39 pages with colour images.

Moore promises that his book "corrects many myths and incorrect facts previously published in media reports and magazines".

• Courage Aflame will be available from July this year and for those interested pre-orders are from patrobmoore@xtra.co.nz. Price $69.