Jamie Searle/Stuff
Rodney Crack, left, was pleased to return the first aid kit and diary of World War II soldier Ernest Kennedy to his daughter Pam Wild and her husband Graham at Otautau on Saturday. Crack bought both items at an auction recently.
Rodney Crack’s search to find relatives of a World War II soldier, so he could return the serviceman’s diary and first aid kit to them, ended in Otautau on Saturday. Pam Wild, the daughter of serviceman Ernest William Kennedy #378052, 2/NZEF, 1939-45; and her husband Graham Wild drove from their home in Queenstown to meet Crack and be given the items on Saturday.
The first aid kit has a World War II soldier’s name on it, E Kennedy #378052, but the diary does not. Ernest William Kennedy was from Southland. ”If I can’t find them, I’ll give them to an RSA or a museum,” he said. Kennedy died on October 1, 1992, at age 71. He shares a grave with his wife Dulcie and son Ronald at Eastern Cemetery in Invercargill. The online cenotaph Auckland War Memorial records showed Kennedy was a carpenter s apprentice in Invercargill before enlisting with the army. His next of kin was Mrs J Kennedy, of Mary St, Otautau.
Jamie Searle/Stuff