Hawera Man Bridegroom In Camp Chapel Wedding

Taranaki Daily News, 26 August 1942, Page 5

Hawera Man Bridegroom In Camp Chapel Wedding

For the first time in New Zealand, a Nuptial Eucharist was celebrated in a military camp chapel on August 12, when a soldier and his bride were maxned at the Church Army Institute in the Dominion's largest inland camp. They were Pte Harley Matson Johanson, son of Mr." and Mrs. L. S. McAsey, Hawera, and Lorraine Hannah, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. K. J. Goile, Ohakune. The service was performed by Captain Harold Irving, Church of England chaplain to the forces. . „ , Sergeant K. J. Goile, in Home Guard uniform, gave his daughter away. The bride's twin sister, Mrs. Commings, young widow of the present war, whose husband was killed in Egypt, was matron of honour. Pte- A. O. Burke was best man. Sergeant-Major T. J. Kirk-Bum-and played the chapel organ, and his unit also provided a guard of honour with fixed bayonets. An unofficial and unrehearsed ovation was given the bridal party as they left the chapel by a battalion of soldiers which had just been dismissed from the adjacent parade ground. A reception and wedding breakfast were held in the Church Army Hut. During the reception it was remarked that although one or two weddings had previously been held in camp chapels, this was the first time that the full service of the Nuptial Eucharist had been celebrated in such circumstances.