Dominico Zapata/Stuff
Bryan Cox, 96, went from Hamilton Tech to Hiroshima as he fought his way through the Pacific in World War II.
There’s the Certificate of Appreciation “for service given to New Zealand”, signed by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and then-Defence Minister Ron Mark.
There are also pictures of the Corsair fighter, a plane he credits, along with that flash of lightning, for saving his life.
It’s a story that starts in 1940, when Cox was in his final year at the Tech, and involves his English teacher, “a chap called Gummy Martin”.
“It was the year of the Battle of Britain. [Martin] had the whole wall of the English classroom papered with