Second World War veterans receive message from King Charles

As New Zealanders mark the 110th anniversary of Anzac Day and it nears 80 years since the end of the Second World War, surviving veterans from that global conflict have been thanked for their contribution in a special message from King Charles III.

25 April, 2025

The message, organised with the support of the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF), Veterans Affairs and the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, has been sent to the 81 Second World War veterans known to Veterans’ Affairs.

The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) says the special message from His Majesty The King is both a fitting acknowledgement of the veterans’ service and sends a strong message about the importance of remembrance.

The anniversary of Victory in Europe Day is 8 May, while the anniversary of Victory over Japan day is 15 August.

Today, the NZDF provided support to between two and three hundred Anzac Day ceremonies around the country and across the world – where hundreds of personnel are on deployment.

Vice Chief of Defence Force, Rear Admiral Mathew Williams, addressed those gathered for the Dawn Service and National Commemoration at Pukeahu National War Memorial in Wellington, where he also acknowledged the surviving Second World War veterans and their departed comrades.

In his reading, he cited the story of Sub-Lieutenant [Air] Thomas Chalmers Glen McBride, who was killed in action while on air operations over Japan in July 1945, just five days before the Japanese surrender. He was the last New Zealand service person to be killed in action during the Second World War.

“Glen was reported missing after failing to return from a sortie against a Japanese airfield. Like so many others, his wife and family had to endure months of agonising uncertainty about his fate. It wasn’t until November 1945 that the family learned that a fellow aviator had seen his aircraft fail to pull out of a dive and crash, killing Glen and his British pilot instantly.”

Meanwhile, NZDF personnel deployed on global missions are also marking Anzac Day, attending services alongside their Australian Defence Force (ADF) counterparts in countries where the two nations have forces deployed together.

Seven New Zealand Army officers deployed to the United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation (UNTSO) will be travelling to Türkiye to attend the New Zealand services at Gallipoli, where an NZDF contingent is supporting joint Australia-New Zealand events.

They will be accompanied by their families, as well as ADF personnel from UNTSO to pay their respects as Anzac members of an international peacekeeping mission.

Members of the NZDF contingent deployed to the Multinational Force and Observers mission in the Sinai will join members of the ADF in marking Anzac Day. There will be a dawn service at the MFO’s South Camp, and four NZDF personnel will take part alongside Australian colleagues at the dawn service held at the Commonwealth cemetery in Cairo.

In Bahrain, Turkish personnel with the Combined Maritime Force are being invited to join NZDF and ADF personnel at a dawn service, while the Commander of the New Zealand-led Combined Task Force 150 and a small contingent will mark the day with the New Zealand High Commissioner and embassy staff in Riyadh.

For the 179 crew onboard HMNZS Te Kaha currently on patrol in the west Indian Ocean, they will take a short break from the job of countering narcotics and weapon smuggling by criminal and terrorist organisations, and commemorate Anzac Day by giving thanks to those who served before them.

The King’s Message

A Message to the New Zealand Veterans of the Second World War in the 80th Anniversary Year of the War’s End

As we approach the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, it is with great admiration, that I write to thank you, once again, for your selfless service in those most difficult and dangerous times. The passing of the years has in no way diminished the courageous deeds of those who sacrificed so much in the line of duty and in the pursuit of peace, freedom and justice.

For many years now, you have carried the memory of that dreadful conflict, and the weight of grief for others who fell in your country’s service. I am always deeply touched when I hear of the love and pride veterans feel for their fallen comrades and family members, and that there are few days in which they do not think of them. I know that it is no small burden to bear that the final resting places of the fallen are often so far from home.

We must, every one of us, remain vigilant in upholding the values for which you fought so gallantly over eighty years ago. Like others of my generation, I owe my peaceful childhood to the steadfast efforts of those of your comrades, with yourselves, in overcoming tyranny. For this I feel the most profound gratitude.

It is my fervent hope that the years have brought you to a place of peace, and that peace shall remain with you always.

CHARLES R.