The names on the Kaiparoro bridge (1)

There are nine names altogether on the Kaiparoro bridge: six from World War One and three from World War Two.

Photo: Sue Pearce

The first name under 1914-1918 on the memorial plaque (and top right on the outside of the bridge) is that of V. A. Falkner.

Victor Andrew Falkner was born on 21 September 1893, one of 12 children to Alfred and Eliza Falkner, of Kaiparoro, Eketahuna. He went to Kaiparoro primary school and worked in his father’s timber mill. He enlisted on 15 December 1914 with the Auckland Mounted Rifles and was reported missing on 28 August 1915, aged 21, at Gallipoli, Turkey. A Board of Inquiry in October decided it was “reasonable to suppose dead”. His name is on the Hill 60 (New Zealand) Memorial, Hill 60 Cemetery. 

This is Victor Falkner's entry on Auckland War Memorial Museum's Online cenotaph database.

Portrait, standing in garden - No known copyright restrictions

The name beneath his on the plaque (and above his on the outside) is that of J.H. Snell.

John Harold Snell was born on 15 January 1893 to Edward and Harriett Snell. He was a cheesemaker and enlisted on 11 February 1915 with the New Zealand Engineers. At the time, he was single, but he married Ysabel Hannah Tryphena Snell, nee Emslie, in England in March 1916.  He survived Gallipoli but was killed in action on 3 January 1918, aged 24. He is buried in the Lijssenthoek Cemetery in Belgium. This is John Snell's entry on the Online cenotaph database. 

On 12 August 2014, his name was among those read out in the Tower of London’s nightly roll call, during the playing of the Last Post, to commemorate the outbreak of World War One. This was organised by a descendant, Renny Snell, now living n England who submitted his name, (The newspaper article also notes that "John Harold Snell is the uncle of Olympic and Commonwealth gold medallist Peter Snell, who visited the Anzac Bridge in 2007 to pay tribute to his Uncle Jack".)

The third name on the plaque is that of A. Braddick. 

Arthur Lock Braddick was born in Woodville on 18 January 1890. He was a farmer at Waiwaka, Eketahuna and enlisted on 7 February 1917 with the Canterbury Infantry Regiment. He married Madeline Henson at Mt Bruce in March and sailed from Wellington in August 1917. His daughter Joan Madeline was born in December 1917. Arthur Braddick was killed in action on 29 September 1918 and he is buried at Fifteen Ravine British Cemetery Villers-Pouich in France. This is  Arthur Braddick's entry on Online cenotaph. 

I found some poignant articles in the Wairarapa Daily Times about Arthur Braddick: one from 21 July 1917 celebrating his going, the other on 19 October 1918 mourning his death, 

Kaiparoro war memorial bridge

This is Kaiparoro war memorial bridge. You might have driven past it on SH 2, just north of Masterton, past Pukaha Mt Bruce. You wouldn't have driven over it, because the road was diverted some years ago.

Photo: Sue Pearce

You can read more about the bridge here on Te ara. The entry says about the bridge says that it was "designed and the construction supervised by Alfred Falkner, whose son Victor and nephew Donald Pallant were among those remembered. The memorial bridge was built of stone from the nearby Makākahi River, and opened in 1922." 

It's a very special  bridge to the local community and the Friends of ANZAC Bridge have done a great job of restoring and caring for it. In fact, this year is the 10th anniversary of their formation to save "what was once a 'neglected and forgotten' structure in the middle of a cow paddock." You can read more about their work here. 

Friends of ANZAC Bridge Committee 2016. PHOTO/EVIE DEWES

I knew about the bridge already (we included a photo of it in the section on war memorials in my book on the history of Anzac Day), and I loved the idea of an Anzac project based around it. 

But what could that project be?

Well, I thought - how about finding another bridge community to link up to, either here in New Zealand or overseas. That would be easy, surely? There must be lots of World War One memorial bridges. 

But it turned out that there aren't so many at all, and that makes the Kaiparoro bridge even more special.