MILITARY FUNERAL

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 24, 29 January 1942, Page 8

MILITARY FUNERAL

LATE CORPORAL A. J. CAPES

All the main branches of the Military Forces were represented today at the funeral of the late Corporal Arthur J. Gapes, D.C.M., of the National Military Reserve, and in addition a large crowd of civilians, which included representatives of every organisation in the suburb of Northland, showed the esteem which Corporal Gapes had won during his lifetime in that district. A son of Mrs. Elizabeth Gapes, of Glen-1 more Street, and of the late Mr. George Gapes, sen., he was a member of a very well-known Northland and Karori family. St. Anne's Anglican Church in Northland was crowded and therej were many people outside when the, Rev. J. E. Ashley-Jones, assisted by Padre H. W. Newell, conducted the service. The chief mourners were Corporal Gapes's widow and his three brothers, Messrs. F. Gapes, H. Gapes, and W. Gapes, all of Northland. After the church ceremony the cortege proceeded to the soldiers' cemetery at Karori. The pallbearers were six corporals of the National Military I Reserve, which also supplied the escort j for the hearse and the firing party at the graveside. Upon the coffin was the Union Jack, Corporal Gapes's mili- j tary equipment, and a cluster of multi- ■ coloured hydrangeas. There were. many wreaths. j The Rev. Mr. Ashley-Jones and Padre | Newell also officiated at the graveside, j after which military honours were ac- ' corded, with firing party and trumpet- j ers. Corporal Gapes's old comrades of ; the Ist N.Z.E.F.—members of the First Battery. N.Z.F.A., in particular, and the R.S.A. in general—showed that they had not forgotten him by filing past the grave and placing poppies on the casket.

The mourners included a large number of militai-y officers, n.c.o.s, and other ranks. Colonel C. C. MuscroftTaylor, fortress area commander, represented the Central Military District and Colonel G. H. Allan, of the 2nd Battalion of the National Military Reserve, was another senior officer present. Among the civilians who attended were the Prime Minister (Mr. Fraser), the Minister of Defence (Mr. Jones), and representatives of the Northland Home and School Association, the Northland Red Cross Society, and the Northland Khaki Club.