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The new War Service Roll, which has found a generous benefactor, will be hung fittingly in the War Memorial Chapel, and combines the names of those that served in war with those who not only served but paid the ultimate sacrifice for service to their country. The roll will be dedicated at the Old Knox Grammarians' Memorial Service on Friday 7 November 2008.
In 1995, as part of the national commemorations to mark the 50th Anniversary of End of the War in the Pacific, the school embarked on a publication project entitled Knox Remembers, which included the creation of a War Service Roll.
Additional names of those who served began to surface with the passage of time, then in 2002 the Australian War Memorial began to publish Nominal Rolls for WWII that could be accessed via the internet. This presented the School Archives and Mr Edric Chaffer, OKG stalwart volunteer and prime researcher for this latest project, a remarkable if daunting opportunity. To shore up the gaps and systematically cross reference the Schools’ records with those published by the Australian War Memorial.
We can now say that the KGS War Service Roll which once was estimated by the late Geoff Crapp to be - over 400” now stands at 751– this includes those younger members of the community who served in Korea War, the Malayan emergency, Vietnam and more recent peace keeping activities as well as the current international conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
For WWII these numbers represent service participation rate of approximately 75% of school enrolments from 1924-1944. As a consequence of this painstaking research, the Roll of Honour now stands at 68 as opposed to the 42 names listed in the Schools original War Memorial Appeal brochure of 1953.
The Roll of Honour will be updated for the 2009 Anzac Day Commemoration Service.
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OKGA President, Mr Ian MacPherson and Tom Felton, Captain of Preparatory School, lay the wreath on Anzac Day 2008 |
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Mr Edric Chaffer, OKG '50 with Mrs Hipsley, sister of TM Clark, OKG '34 Honour Roll |
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Mr Lysle Roberts, OKG '41 and Mr David Nesbitt, OKG '39 at the Anzac Day Commemorations 2007 |
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