In 1948 Onerahi resident Mrs Flora Mary Commins erected a war memorial bus shelter near the Onerahi shopping centre. This incorporated a granite tablet headed ‘Roll of Honour / Onerahi School / 1939-1945.’ There followed the names of six former Onerahi School students who had given their lives during the war: Mrs Commins’ sons, John S. Commins and Charles L.H. Commins, Donald C. Tooth, Leon E. Rowlands, David H. Hawkes and Bruce B. McBeath.
The tablet was later relocated to the local school. It was restored and rededicated in 2015.
See: ‘Memorial shelter on Onerahi Road’, Northern Advocate, 17 September 1948, p. 3; ‘War dead live on in restored plaque’, Northern Advocate, 29 September 2015.
Credit
Bruce Ringer, Auckland Libraries, 2015.