“TRIBUTE TO HERO”

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21244, 15 October 1940, Page 7

“TRIBUTE TO HERO”

DOMINION PILOT’S BURIAL (By Telegraph.—Press Association) CHRISTCHURCH, Monday A report from the Christchurch Times, England, of the funeral on August 19 of a New Zealand airman, Pilot-Officer C. H. Hight, which has been received by the Mayor of Christchurch, Mr R. M. Macfarlane, M.P., is headed: “Tribute to a Hero.” The coffin was draped with the flag of New Zealand, which had been presented to the borough of Christchurch, England, by the city of Christchurch, New Zealand. “Cecil Hight, aged 22, was killed in action, and it was a fitting tribute to his bravery and supreme sacrifice that such an emblem of. and from his home country, should be borne wtih him on his last journey,” says the report. “At the service, special prayers were offered for the parents of the dead pilot, the Dominion of New Zealand, and the men of the Royal Air Force. The cortege was led by an escort of the pilot’s colleagues, some of whom had been engaged in the same fight in which he had met his death. At the close of the service three volleys were fired by a salute from Flying-Officer Igglesden, Pilot-Officer Dewhurst and Flying-Officer Connor. Although his body rests in England, and his memory is treasured in New Zealand, his name, with that of others, will remain for ever in the imperishable volume of human gratitude.”