8 December 2004
Kiwi D-day veterans honoured in French pictorial
Veterans: 1944-2004 – Photographs and Conversations with D-Day veterans by Régis Colin is a moving exhibition displaying
24 black and white portrait photographs of New Zealand World War 2 veterans who participated in D-Day, 6 June 1944.
To mark the exhibition opening Auckland Museum is hosting a ceremony to honour the veterans of the historic battle that
reshaped the closing stages of the war. At 10.30am on Friday 10 December in the Pictorial Gallery, Jean-Michel Marlaud,
French Ambassador to New Zealand will symbolically present the French Military Cross to Anne Raven, daughter of John
Raven who sadly died a fortnight ago. He was posted to Borneo after the war and his medal was sent to him in the post.
Most of the surviving veterans will be attending along with their families. This will be one of the last remaining
chances for these veterans to gather on mass. Allison Blanley, a paratrooper and medic of the 82nd Airborne agrees.
“…It’s a good thing you have come to meet us now because, as you probably know, a lot of us have already taken the last
jump, the one for which a parachute is no longer of any use!...”
The exhibition Veterans is on display in the Pictorial Gallery from 10 December until 9 January.
ENDS