{"id":113838,"date":"2025-11-02T09:50:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T09:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/113838\/"},"modified":"2025-11-02T09:50:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T09:50:12","slug":"whangarei-boys-high-school-students-unearth-medals-that-may-belong-to-war-hero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/113838\/","title":{"rendered":"Whang\u0101rei Boys\u2019 High School students unearth medals that may belong to war hero"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Whang\u0101reiWhang\u0101rei Boys’ High School students Hugh Manson (left) and Brock Reid uncovered two medals that may have been awarded to a war hero who was a former student.<\/p>\n

WBHS Old Boys\u2019 Association members Mike Dent, Kevin Salmon and Jarrod Goodall have supported the investigation and liaised with the National Army Museum and other experts to trace the medals\u2019 history and confirm provenance. <\/p>\n

Solomon said that whether or not the medals were copies, the discovery had sparked excitement throughout the school and its Old Boys\u2019 Association.<\/p>\n

On August 11, 1943, Trigg was flying off the coast of West Africa when he pressed home an attack on a German submarine despite his aircraft \u2013 a Liberator bomber \u2013 being ablaze.<\/p>\n

The attack was successful, but he and his crew lost their lives. <\/p>\n

Trigg was awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously for his courage, which was recommended by the surviving German submarine commander. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s the only instance of such a recommendation recorded, according to research.<\/p>\n

\"AA Victoria Cross medal believed to have belonged to former student and decorated war hero, Sergeant Lloyd Allan Trigg VC DFC was discovered in a fish bin in a storage container.\"WBHSWBHS students Hugh Manson and Brock Reid have been delving into historical items that had been locked away during the school’s rebuild.<\/p>\n

Solomon said the school would work to ensure the medals were treated with the respect they deserved. <\/p>\n

Uncovering the taonga was a result of his and the WBHS Old Boys\u2019 Association\u2019s motivation to showcase and celebrate the school\u2019s history and legacy, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis discovery speaks to WBHS\u2019s long legacy and the strength of our community across generations. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll share more once we\u2019ve completed the verification process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Solomon said students had shown respect and curiosity while uncovering the remarkable story. <\/p>\n

\u201cTheir work alongside our Old Boys speaks to the strength of the relationship between past and present \u2013 something that defines who we are as a school.\u201d <\/p>\n

The medals, if real, will be housed and displayed at the Fideliter Fellowship Stairwell and showcased at the 150th Jubilee celebrations in 2031.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis discovery has created genuine excitement across the kura,\u201d Solomon said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a powerful reminder that our legacy isn\u2019t just about what has been, but what continues to be \u2013 young men learning from those who came before them, and carrying that spirit forward.\u201d <\/p>\n

Brodie Stone covers crime and emergency for the Northern Advocate. She has spent most of her life in Whang\u0101rei and is passionate about delving into issues that matter to Northlanders and beyond.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Whang\u0101rei Boys’ High School students Hugh Manson (left) and Brock Reid uncovered two medals that may have been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":113839,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[81168,74,81169,1567,51245,1848,76427,12811,2959,7810,49539,3025,111,43,139,1067,69,4062,3767,1361,61,79985,21085,6149,1869,6923,2963],"class_list":{"0":"post-113838","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-abuzz","9":"tag-after","10":"tag-airmen","11":"tag-awarded","12":"tag-belong","13":"tag-boys","14":"tag-decorated","15":"tag-hero","16":"tag-high","17":"tag-may","18":"tag-medals","19":"tag-most","20":"tag-new-zealand","21":"tag-news","22":"tag-newzealand","23":"tag-northland","24":"tag-nz","25":"tag-school","26":"tag-students","27":"tag-that","28":"tag-to","29":"tag-unearth","30":"tag-unearthed","31":"tag-war","32":"tag-whangrei","33":"tag-what","34":"tag-zealands"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}