$1.5 million keeps war fiance's memory alive

[Kyt]

$1.5 million keeps war fiance's memory alive - New Zealand news on Stuff.co.nz

A tale of love and war will live on for generations after $1.5 million was gifted to Wellington College.

More than 60 years after Tom Paul was killed during World War II, 92-year-old Violet Dunn has ensured that her beloved's memory will endure by giving the money to benefit the school he attended from 1931 till 1935.

"She's a remarkable woman," headmaster Roger Moses said.

"It's a great story, she's carried the memory of her fiance throughout her whole life."

The couple met in 1934 on Auckland's Takapuna Beach. They fell in love and later planned to marry.

Mr Paul enlisted in the air force as a trainee pilot in 1940 and a year later was based in England, flying Wellington and Lancaster bombers on night raids over Europe.

The couple's story is told in the school's Collegian magazine this month.

It says Miss Dunn was deeply affected when Mr Paul died in 1944, aged 26, when his plane crashed into forest near Farnham Common in southeast England.

She never married and has stayed true to his memory.

Mr Moses said the school was contacted last year by Miss Dunn's lawyer, who asked if Tom Paul had been a pupil - and said that, if so, there might be a "substantial gift" coming.

Mr Moses said the money was an extraordinary gift and would be hugely beneficial.

Of it, $1 million would be used to rebuild the memorial hall, which was demolished in 1968 after it was deemed an earthquake risk.

The remaining $500,000 would be invested and the interest - estimated at $25,000 a year - used to help boys who would otherwise struggle to pay for school trips.

The school flew Miss Dunn and her niece and nephew to Wellington last year for its Anzac Day service, which was dedicated to Mr Paul's life. Miss Dunn is now living in an Auckland retirement home and could not be contacted yesterday.

Described as "fiercely independent", she worked as a dental nurse and later as a nanny and housekeeper.

She left for Britain when the war ended and visited the site where Mr Paul's plane crashed. She has also given shards of metal from his plane, his medals and old school uniform to the college.

She returned to New Zealand in the 1960s and settled in Auckland.

Name: PAUL, THOMAS KEITH
Initials: T K
Nationality: New Zealand
Rank: Warrant Officer (Pilot)
Regiment/Service: Royal New Zealand Air Force
Age: 26
Date of Death: 04/01/1944
Service No: 41525
Additional information: Son of Thomas Paul and of Margaret Isobelle Paul (nee Savage), of Normandale, Wellington, New Zealand.
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: Row K. Grave 56.
Cemetery: DURHAM (ST. OSWALD'S) BURIAL GROUND

[Kyt]

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database

[Antipodean Andy]

Killed as an instructor so that's at least one tour. I would lean towards two tours given the time he served. Must have been a remarkably experienced pilot.

His legacy will rightly continue for many years.

[Nostalgair]

A very fitting tribute and noble gesture.

Lest we forget.