KILLED IN ACCIDENT
LEADING AIRCRAFTMAN K. E. HODGE
Leading Aircraftman Keith Edwin Hodge, who was killed at a South Island air station on Monday, when two planes collided in mid-air, was the son of Mr and Mrs A. E. Hodge, of Avon street, Oamaru. He was 26 years of age. He was educated at the Oamaru South School and Waitaki Boys’ High School, where he gained a Macmillan Brown prize for popularity. On leaving school, he joined the staff of his father’s Economic Drapery business, managing it for a period during his father’s absence. Aircraftman Hodge was a prominent athlete. He excelled at swimming, cricket, and Rugby football. He was a member of the Old Boys Football Club and a North Otago representative player. At the outbreak of the war he enlisted for the air force, but did not join up at that time. He joined the army, and served with the New Zealand Division in the Pacific combat area for a year and nine months, and, having previously enlisted for the air force, he was recalled to New Zealand to undergo air force training. His two brothers are serving overseas, one with the Australian Air force in New Guinea and the other with the 2nd N.Z.E.F. in Italy.
The funeral at Oamaru yesterday afternoon was attended by a large number of people, including the Mayor (Mr J. C. Kirkness), borough councillors, the town clerk (Mr J. Branthwaite), representatives of the Royal New Zealand Air Force, the North Otago Rugby Union, the Old Boys Football Club, Mr Frank Milner (rector) with senior boys of the Waitaki Boys’ High School, and Pilot Officer F. Crimp with the Waitaki unit of the Air Training Corps. The services at the parents' residence and the graveside were conducted by Archdeacon S. J. Cooper. -Otago Daily Times, 18/8/1944.
Oamaru Cemetery.
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