Kippenberger Pavillion added Waiouru Museum

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 11, Issue 534, 3 May 1994, Page 28 (Supplement)

Kippenberger Pavillion added Waiouru Museum

By

Michele

Monaghan

Extensions to Waiouru ' s QEII Army Memorial Museum, the Kippenberger Pavilion, are now well under way. Foundations are complete with the pouring of 75 cubic metres of concrete. The extensions will make the museum even

more attractive as a place to spend an hour or two on a day offfrom the mountain. The unusual-shaped foundations are designed to float the building on the swampy ground. Army Engineers had to dig down a further 600 millimetres than anticipated, as the ground was softer than expected.

Boxing for the foundations had to be bolted rather than nailed, as the concrete is stronger than most mixes. The concrete was mixed to a strength of 25 mega pascals, most concrete for everyday use is mixed to under half this strength. The engineers from 25 Engineer Support Squadron

in Linton, worked long hours to finish the boxing in time for the concrete pour. Flood-Iights were set up and about 25 soldiers worked until eleven at night to be ready for the final big pour the next day. Lieutenant Donald Jones, overseer of the project, said most workers

subjected to conditions as cold as they have been in Waiouru recently, would only work for a four hour period but engineers working on the foundations did not have that luxury , as they are working to a strict time schedule. There have already been several heavy frosts in the town, he said.

Work is running about two weeks behind time, due to having to dig deeper than anticipated. The Kippenberger Pavilion is expected to be finished around September. Following the foundations work, a special Anzac Day ceremony was held where the foundation stone was laid. One person who still remembers New Zealand's war dead is Captain (retd) Charles Upham VC and Bar. Mr Upham was twice awarded the Victoria Cross fighting in WWII. The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest gallantry award that can be given to a Commonwealth soldier. The pavilion is being built on the northern end of the Museum complex. It is named after Sir Howard Kippenberger who was Commanding Officer of 20 Battalion during WWII. Mr Upham also fought with 20 Bn. Mr Upham is the only double VC recipient still alive in the world today.

Three men were awarded the VC and Bar. Mr Upham was the only front line soldier with the other two double recipients being British medical officers. Five New Zealanders were awarded VC's during WWII. The only other survivor is Sergeant (retd) Jack Hinton. Mr Hinton fought as a sergeant in Mr Upham' s battalion and received his VC for a bayonet charge against the Germans. Mr Upham received one VC in Crete in 1 94 1 and the other in North Africa in 1942. He became a prisoner of war in 1942 (Italy) and in 1944 was sent to the infamous Colditz castle in Saxony, Germany. "Kippenberger and Upham were very good friends," says Major Richard Taylor, director of the Army Museum. "It was Kippenberger who recommended Upham for commission." Sir Kippenberger survived having both legs blown off at Casino. He died in 1957.