On 21 July 1919 a memorial flagpole was unveiled on the Runciman Road frontage of the Pukekohe East School. This was accompanied by a brass plaque with the words: “Erected by the residents of Pukekohe East in honour of the boys of the district who served in the Great War, 1914-1918”.
On Armistice Day later in the same year the ‘Pukekohe East Public School Roll of Honour’ was also unveiled at the school. This listed the names of 57 men from the district who had volunteered for active service, 12 of whom had died.
The original flagpole was later replaced and the plaque went into storage for many years. On 11 November 2004, however, both the new flagpole and the original plaque were rededicated during a ceremony organized by local historian Susanne Stone.
The roll of honour had previously been moved to the Pukekohe East hall (now the Pukekohe East Community Centre) on the corner of Runciman Road and the Pukekohe East Road. It hangs there today alongside a copy of framed photo board which is set with the portraits of 13 young men from the district who gave their lives (the original photo board remains in the old Pukekohe East school building, now part of the Pukekohe East Playcentre). A photo board with portraits of Second World War servicemen Carter, Holmes and C. Whitmore (as ex-pupils of Pukekohe East School who had given their lives) also hangs in the old Pukekohe East school building.
The names of the deceased as listed on the First World War roll of honour are as follows: J. Begbie, P. Comrie, C. Kern, T. Lauer, W. Lauer, A. Reynolds, A. Madill, C. Morgan, F. Storey, A. Robinson, A. Thomson and G. Keane. There is one additional portrait on the photo board, that of Frank (Francis) Carroll.
Sources: ‘Pukekohe East News and Notes’, Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, 24/6/1919, p. 3; ‘Pukekohe East: Unveiling of Roll of Honour’, Franklin & Pukekohe Times, 14/11/1919, p. 3; N.M. Morris, A History of Pukekohe East, 1963-1963, Pukekohe, 1963, pp. 28-9; The Original Pukekohe, ed. Susanne Stone, Pukekohe East, 2005, pp. 99-102, 187-90.
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