DECEASED AIRMAN BURIED AT TOLAGA: FINAL TRIBUTES

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22822, 17 December 1948, Page 4

DECEASED AIRMAN BURIED AT TOLAGA: FINAL TRIBUTES

TOLAGA BAY, Dec. 17.

An impressive tribute to the memory of the late Navigator (I) H. G. F. Rennie, who lost his life when a R.N.Z.A.F. Airspeed Oxford crashed in the Ruahines on Nov. 30, was paid in the occasion of his burial at Tolaga Bay yesterday. Practically the whole population of the township, comprising Europeans and Maoris, gathered lor the obsequies and their attendance was reinforced by large numbers of East Coast residents who demonstrated their deep sympathy with the relatives of the deceased.

A substantial party of R.N.Z.A.F. personnel, under the command of Squad-ron-Leader Baigent, D. 5.0., D.F.C., journeyed from Ohakea to Tolaga Bay to signalise the sympathy of the whole of the service and provided a guard of honour and pallbearers for the casket. Returned servicemen and women were prominent in the gathering, which included a delegation from the headquarters of the Gisborne R.S.A. The memorial service conducted at the Tolaga Bay Presbyterian Church by the Rev. Kingsley Fairbairn, Gisborne, was followed by a funeral procession more than a mile in length and the burial took place in the new lawncemetery portion of the Soldier’s Plot, at the Tolaga Bay cemetery. The large number of floral emblems testified to the esteem in which the late Navigator Rennie was held, and his comrades of the R.N.Z.A.F. and exservicemen’s organisation paid at the graveside their customary tribute. Serving personnel saluted as they passed before the bier, and ex-servicemen laid poppy blooms upon the casket. The “Last Post” and “Reveille” were sounded by Mr. O. G. James, sen.