SS Otaki Commemoration Service

This annual event has become a tradition within the College and one which has been very well supported by Merchant Navy organisations, Defence Forces and Diplomatic Staff from relevant embassies.  This year's commemoration not only marked the SS Otaki's engagement with the SMS Moewe but also the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.  It is likely be the last significant anniversary that our remaining WW2 veterans will be in a place to commemorate and so it was appropriate that we were able to honour Derek Whitwam, Stanley Welch and Sydney Wells, WW2 veterans and members of the New Zealand Arctic Convoy Club.  The significance of this anniversary was also marked by a flyover from an RNZAF Harvard.  The service was extremely well received by the large number of Merchant Navy organisations and other guests attending and is a credit to the organisational skills of our students - Giorgio Bevan, Logan Boyer, Mau-Atua Edwards and Olivia Fogden.

Photos of the event can be accessed here.

I think it is important to close off with a summary of the keynote address from Rear Admiral David Ledson, who continues to be a major supporter of the commemoration services:-

Some reflections on the keynote address at the Ōtaki College wreath laying ceremony on 10 March 2025 to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War – by the speaker

It is the tradition in this country that when we come together to solemnly mark those overseas conflicts in which New Zealanders have been involved, the focal point of the ceremony is the Ode of Remembrance. The Ode comes from ‘For the Fallen’, a poem by English poet and writer Laurence Binyon, and it was first published in The Times on 21 September 1914. From the death toll of the First World War, and the emotional impact that had on Britain, Australia, and New Zealand, in particular, the recitation of The Ode has reinforced the idea that in our wars, sacrifice is linked explicitly with those ‘who shall not grow old’ and have died on the battlefield. And, that it has little connection with the commitment of service, of those who went to war and returned home.

However, service and sacrifice are as explicitly linked in the context of war, as are sacrifice and death. Countless men and women went to war and gave things up in many ways. For those who went to war in the Second World War years as teenagers, and some of those who joined the Merchant Navy were only 15, it was the loss of childhood. Those who were in their 20s did not get to live the carefree and irresponsible years they might have expected, and those who were older, missed out on time with family. None of these losses could ever be recovered – they were gone forever.

Then there are the sacrifices associated with the traumas of war becoming a lifelong companion – physical and mental. While the first can be seen, the other was often hidden from the view of most people. It was mainly wives who saw it, awakened by screams in the night as nightmares from the front lines snuck into bed.

The three Second World War Veterans at the ceremony have gone to similar ceremonies for 80 years – and listened to The Ode. For all those years, they have heard the dead being honoured and, to a very large extent, the sound of silence is the homage accorded them.  To compensate for this, I have written the words below, which for ‘Ode to Those Who Have Served.’

Their service was straight and true

And it was for me - and you

Their time on land, in the air and on the rolling wave

Did not condemn them to a foreign field and early grave

History does not record their name in the fallen ranks

But – still – they are owed the nation’s thanks.