Local board commemorates World War I soldier

Greenhithe's Joe Clark fought in the Battle of Passchendaele in 1917 and was awarded the Military Medal for his bravery.

Greenhithe’s Joe Clark fought in the Battle of Passchendaele in 1917 and was awarded the Military Medal for his bravery.

A Greenhithe settler honoured for bravery in World War I has been memorialised at Wainoni Park.

The Upper Harbour Local Board placed a sign at the park entrance in memory of Joe Clark.

In 2013 the board named the park walkway after Clark and this year allocated $3000 for the sign.

Clark’s nephew, Alex McNaughten – a former Greenhithe resident, approached the North Shore City Council in 2008 about commemorating Clark.

“I thought it would be fitting to name something after him,” McNaughten says.

“I felt that it would be nice to have some sort of commemoration and it would be appropriate in Greenhithe.”

Board chairwoman Lisa Whyte says despite the involved process, the board likes to recognise history.

“Nothing happens quickly but we try,” she says.

Joe Clark was born in 1896. He grew up on his family property in what is now Orwell Rd, and attended Greenhithe School.

He enlisted for the war at 20 and fought in the Battle of Passchendaele on October 12, 1917. He was awarded the Military Medal for carrying wounded under fire.

Clark returned to marry Isabel Tye and they had six children. He raised his family in Cambridge and Waiheke and died in 1981.

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