School project remembers

Kyt · Sep 24, 2008

It is so good to see children learning and actively participating in remembering local veterans. Well done that school.

Sacred Heart's sacrifices - East and Bays Courier news on Stuff.co.nz

Young men who made the ultimate sacrifice during World Wars One and Two have been remembered and honoured by a touching school project.

Sacred Brotherhood, a study by Sacred Heart College year 8 boys, saw 30 students each research an old boy who was killed at war.

The stories of five of these old boys will be told in a one-hour documentary, of which the grand finale is now being filmed in France.

Teacher Margaret Graham came up with the idea after reading names of past students who never returned from war on a plaque inside the school’s chapel.

"After a number of years you start looking at the names, recognising many of the surnames from boys you’ve taught, and wondering who they are and what they were like," she says.

"The project took on a life of it’s own. It’s been a huge undertaking and will probably go on for another four years with the 142 old boys who were killed in both wars."

Of the 44 Sacred Heart old boys who died in World War One, 33 were killed in France.

The year 8 English class has delved into the lives and dreams of the fallen soldiers, many of whom were not long out of high school when they went to war.

To gather as much information as possible the kids went through old school yearbooks, visited the Auckland War Memorial Museum, took advantage of website databases and interviewed family members of the deceased.

A short DVD is being prepared in time for the school’s Anzac Day service.

Richard Kelly, 13, researched Arthur John D’Arcy Heeney, who is one of the five featured in the documentary.

He was a well-known boxer who represented New Zealand at the Empire Games in 1938 and lost in the final on points.

"He went to war when he was 19 and died in 1941 while serving on board the HMS Neptune which hit a mine and sank in the Mediterranean," Richard says.

"One hundred and fifty-one New Zealanders lost their lives. It was the greatest New Zealand death toll in a naval tragedy."

He says the project made him realise "just how terrible the war was".

Saua Leaupepe, 13, studied private Arthur Leef, a member of the 20th Maori Battalion.

"He was from Hokianga and was at Sacred Heart from 1938 to 1940," Saua says.

"He was a prominent rower at school, he was the stroke for the first rowing four."

Mr Leef went to war aged 22, entered the signal corps and took part in the advance through Italy. He was killed by a shell burst in 1944.

Logan Stevens, 12, studied Flight Lieutenant John Trevor McGreal who was attached to the famous Pathfinder Squadron 109 in World War Two.

"He and another pilot died when their plane crashed in an airfield near Brussels," Logan says.

At the time of his death Mr McGreal had completed 50 missions. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross the day before he died.

Logan got in touch with Mr McGreal’s brother, an author who had written a book about the war with a section dedicated to John.

"It was quite sad because his wife divorced him a couple of days before he died," Logan says. "He died 10 days before the war ended and he had a daughter he’d never met."

His grave in Brussels is one Mrs Graham and a group of year 12 history students will soon visit.

They left for Europe on Saturday where they will complete the documentary.

They plan to visit the graves of some of the old boys and honour them by performing the college haka, laying a wreath and playing The Last Post.
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