29 Mar 2015

Commemoration service for Air Force unit

2:45 pm on 29 March 2015

A commemoration service is underway at Wellington's National War Memorial for surviving members of the Royal New Zealand Air Force Number 41 Squadron.

Guests outside the National War Memorial, during the pre-dawn blessing ceremony of the opening of the Pukeahu National War Memorial Park in Wellington.

The National War Memorial in Wellington. Photo: RNZ / Paloma Migone

The service is the culmination of a weekend of activities to mark almost fifty years since the unit disbanded.

The unit flew missions in the South Pacific, Asia and Germany during World War 2 and its aftermath, including delivering aid during the Berlin airlift, after Stalin blockaded the city in 1948 and 1949.

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Photo: RNZ / Shannon Gillies

About seventy members of the squadron are attending the two-day reunion.

This morning they will pay their respects before the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior as well as laying a wreath at the memorial in remembrance of their colleagues.

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