NISSAN CEREMONY

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 201, 23 May 1944, Page 5

NISSAN CEREMONY

Chapel And Cemetery Dedicated (Official War Correspondent, N.Z.E.F.) NISSAN. May 21. To the memory of New Zealand and United States servicemen killed in the initial landings on Nissan Island and in subsequent engagements with the enemy, a cemetery and chapel were dedicated this morning at a combined parade of Allied units on the island. The cemetery lies in a clearing at the top of coral cliffs overlooking a lagoon from which is seen a 90ft. steel flagpole with crossbeams flying the flags of both nations. New Zealand and American lots of neattopped coral graves headed by durably engraved white crosses lie behind and on either side, of the flagpole, and at the fringe of jungle in the back centre stands a small thatched-roof native-built chapel. Two guards each of 50 men, one New Zealand and one American, lined the sides of the cemetery for the dedication which opened with an invocation by a New Zealander, Padre Wharford. After the Last Post and the firing of volleys, the chapel and cemetery were handed over by the natives to General Barrowclough, who accepted on behalf of the armed forces. A United States marine chaplain, Clement Buckley, gave the dedication address, reminding that the. “people of New Zealand and the United States must not be permitted to forget that these men died that they might live. Further, the men who are buried here must be an inspiration to us to commit ourselves untiringly to the task they so nobly advanced. We dedicate this cemetery to the memory’ of these men. May God reward them for the sacrifices they made.”