Transcript Every year a special service to

Every year a special service to
commemorate the Old Boys of Otago Boys’
High School who were killed in action or died
or wounds in the two World Wars is held
in the school
auditorium.
The service is
held for the boys
of the senior
school.
The Otago Boys’ High
School Memorial
Archway was opened in
1923, for the school’s
Diamond Jubilee. It
commemorates the Old
Boys who fought and
died in the Great War.
A translation of the
Latin inscription
reads…
It is a sweet and
honourable thing to
die for your country.
There are four bronze
plaques – two on the
right hand side and two
on the left that list the
names of those young
men who did not return
from the battlefields of
Gallipoli, Sinai and
Palestine and the
Western Front.
Each panel lists 50
men with one panel
listing 51. There are
201 names in all.
Lieutenant John Stuart Reid
Otago Regiment, N.Z.E.F.
Died 3 May 1915 Aged 22
years.
Commemorated on the
Lone Pine memorial.
Gallipoli, Turkey.
Lieutenant Colonel George
Hepburn Stewart.
Canterbury / Otago Mounted
Rifles, NZEF.
Died of dysentery on
Lemnos, Greece, on 20
November 1915, aged 40.
Second Lieutenant Eric
Claude Spedding. Otago
Regiment. Second Battalion
NZEF.
Died 7 October 1917, aged
20.
Interred at Etaples France.
Sergeant John Gilks, Otago
Regiment, 1st battalion
N.Z.E.F.
Died 21st January 1918
aged 20.
Interred at Lijssenthoek
Military Cemetery, Belgium.
Trooper Gilbert Worsfold
Throp Canterbury Mounted
Rifles, N.Z.E.F.
Died 28 March 1918 aged
29.
Interred Damascus
Commonwealth War
Cemetery, Syria.
The service
begins with a
welcome by the
principal Mr
Clive Rennie
and a reading “In
Praise of
Famous Men” by
the Head Boy.
Left: The school
choir are
accompanied by
the school
orchestra as
they sing “The
Lords Prayer”.
The school
follows with a
rendition of the
school song.
The main speaker for
the 2008 service was
Air Vice Marshall
Robin Klitscher who
spoke to the boys
about the various
services - army, navy
and air force and the
incredible loss of life
that was experienced
by all the services in
both wars.
Such a loss of life
was only endurable if
subsequent
generations did not
forget the sacrifice
and the reasons for
it.
The service finishes with The Lords Prayer and the New Zealand National Anthem
and the Deputy Head Boy reads from the Book of Remembrance.
Mementoes for the
service include a violin
played by A. C. Aitken as
the troops landed at
ANZAC Cove on
Gallipoli. A. C. Aitken
survived the war after
also serving in France.
He has written the
names of those battles in
which he served inside
the violin case.
A.C. Aitken eventually became a
professor of Mathematics at
Cambridge University. He wrote
a book on his experiences of the
war, which is also presented as
an item of remembrance at the
service.
Also part of the service is a sprig of Rosemary cut from the memorial
planting beside the archway. Rosemary represents remembrance.
When the
service is
complete the
year 13 boys
form lines of
honour on
each side of
the driveway
from the
memorial
archway to
the main
block.
The Head Boy and the Deputy Head Boy bring wreaths to lay under
the archway.
The wreaths
are laid under
the four bronze
plaques that list
the men of the
school who lost
their lives in
WW1.
The Last Post
and Reveille
are hauntingly
played by Mr.
W. Henderson
on the bugle.
The invited guests, staff and boys approach the archway one by one and lay a poppy
at the base of the plaques.
The Head Boy lays a wreath on
behalf of the pupils of the school and
the Board of Trustees (left). The
Deputy Head Boy lays a wreath on
behalf of the Parents’
Association (above).