Korea War veteran Ken Wright has a new fight on his hands, the campaign to restore the gravestone of a family plot remembering Canterbury’s first Victoria Cross recipient, Henry Nicholas. Chris Barclay reports.
Ken Wright, walking cane in hand, regularly meanders through Bromley Cemetery, along the well-maintained rows of war veterans laid to rest.
“I like to walk up and down to see which navy boys are there,” the soon to be 86-year-old Londoner explains.
Wright’s interest in the sailors is understandable – he served in the Royal Navy for a decade, a time frame including the Korean War.
Yet it is a Lincoln-born sergeant from the Canterbury Regiment, who was killed days before the end of World War 1, that really resonated after he found the family plot of Henry James Nicholas by chance about 20 years ago.
Wright was intrigued when he first saw the letters VC and MM etched after the soldier’s surname. These days he is appalled when he looks down on the headstone, one of many toppled by the Christchurch earthquakes.
They display fresh replica poppies added by the ‘New Zealand Remembrance Army’ before last month’s Anzac Day commemorations.
“If they can do those, they can do this. They didn’t touch this one. Although it’s just a chunk of concrete, it could be stood up and displayed a lot better,” Wright said.
He first noticed the grave when he visited family living next to the cemetery, he moved permanently to Bromley from Dunedin with wife Bronwyn last November to be close to their daughters.
“I know there was an earthquake and God knows what but that was 11 years ago wasn’t it?”
Wright may not be fighting a losing battle, with the Royal New Zealand Returned and Services’ Association national president BJ Clark pledging to investigate.
“You’ve hit a raw nerve here because I helped put together the group that put the Henry Nicholas statue by the Bridge of Remembrance (in 2007). We will have a look at it and see what we can do.”
Although grave maintenance is usually the responsibility of the family, the RSA-affiliated Remembrance Army has undertaken repair work throughout the country, when given permission by the local council.
One of four sons raised by Richard and Hannah Nicholas, Henry was born on June 11, 1891 and after working as a carpenter he enlisted in February 1916.
Nicholas earned the Victoria Cross for his part in the attack on Polderhoek Chateau in Belgium on December 3, 1917.
He rushed forward, ahead of his section, to destroy a German stronghold inflicting heavy casualties on the advancing troops.
Nicholas used bombs and a bayonet to overcome the 16-man enemy garrison.
The 27-year-old was presented with his VC by King George V at Buckingham Palace in July 1918, and then crossed to France where he was awarded the Military Medal for actions performed during operations on the Welsh and Bon Avis Ridges.
Nicholas was killed in action near Beaudignies on October 23, 1918 and is buried in the Vertigneul Churchyard. Hostilities ended on November 11, 1918.
In 2008 a plaque recording the VC-worthy exploits of Canterbury’s first recipient was unveiled in Belgium; Nicholas is also remembered in Queen’s Garden in Dunedin.
Wright’s plea unearthed an ally on Tuesday, when Diana Burgess, a niece of Nicholas, learned of the family plot.
“We’ve never seen it,” she said, before being given directions. “I don’t like to think it has been in disrepair for as long as it has. I would be very, very pleased if it could be fixed.”
