During a clean-out of a shipping container the Nelson RSA had been using for temporary storage while their premises was being relocated, a medal that had been handed in many years previously came to light. The medal, as far as can be ascertained, was found in Nelson around 1985 and since that time has remained unclaimed, in the RSA’s possession.
The Royal New Zealand Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNZNVR) medal awarded for Long Service & Good Conduct was named around the edge to: K19559 PO WEF L. J. CRON. RNZNVR.
The recipient, Lloyd Jeffery Cron, when awarded the medal was a Petty Officer (Sgt. equivalent) Weapons Electrical Fitter (WEF). Lloyd appeared in numerous online electoral roll records which indicated he had been an Electrician by trade and also a long time Dunedin resident. The limit of online Ancestry records, as regular users will know, was 1998 at this time and so I passed the details to MRNZ’s resident research assistant in Dunedin, Mike Stanley, to try and trace Lloyd or a relative of his family. Within days Mike advised me he had located and spoken with Lloyd who was still living in Otago and, startled at the news, told Mike that he thought the medal was long gone and never thought he would ever see it again! The medal is now back in Lloyd’s hands.
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Long Service medal
A long service medal awarded to members of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) was established in 1909. The medal is awarded to Petty Officers and ratings who had served 12 or 15 years; war service counting double time. The original medal was the same as that of the Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) long service medal with a plain green ribbon. In 1919 a new ribbon was introduced for the RNVR medal:
The same medal and ribbon was also issued to the Royal Naval Wireless Auxiliary Reserve from 1939. Versions with different ribbons were awarded to other Naval Reserve branches such as the Royal Naval Reserve (RNR), Royal Fleet Reserve (RFR), and the Royal Naval Auxiliary Sick Berth Reserve.
In 1957, the RNR and RNVR were merged and a new medal ribbon was issued, before the medal itself was replaced in the UK in 2000. However, New Zealand continued to award the medal with it being instituted in 1985 as the Royal New Zealand Naval Volunteer Reserve Long Service and Good Conduct Medal.
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Naval volunteers
The first Naval Volunteer units were formed in Auckland and Nelson in 1858. Over the rest of the 19th century Naval Volunteer units were formed in various ports such as Bluff, Wanganui, and Wairoa. These were reorganised into Naval Artillery Volunteers in 1883. Founded on 1 October 1941, the RNZNVR is the volunteer reserve force of the Royal New Zealand Navy.
The Naval Volunteers supplemented a small number of regular soldiers known as the Permanent Militia. The Permanent Militia included the New Zealand Torpedo Corps who were responsible for manning the four Defender-class torpedo boats and the Submarine Mining Corps. In 1902 the Volunteers were further reorganised into the Garrison Artillery Volunteers. I n a special report in 1919, Admiral of the Fleet Lord Jellicoe recommended that New Zealand acquire 18 minesweepers.
Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve
The next major reorganisation occurred in 1926 when the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy was formed. A unit of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (colloquially known as the ‘wavy navy’ from the design of RNVR officers rank braid) was established in Auckland and further units were opened in Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin two years later.
The Government finally responded to Jellicoe’s report by purchasing one second-hand Canadian built minesweeping trawler, renaming it HMNZS Wakakura (literally ‘boat school’ in te reo Maori). She served as the nation’s main steamer training vessel for the RNVR and throughout the late 1920 through the 1930s, Wakakura moved from port to port so each RNVR unit could have its share of seamanship and minesweeping training as well as live gunnery practices with its one 4 inch (102mm) gun and twin .303 Lewis machine-guns. HMNZS Wakakura was the sole training ship for the Naval Reserve until the beginning of World War 2.
By 1939 the need to protect merchant ships from mines which might be laid round the coast was becoming increasingly apparent. There were, at that point, 78 officers and 610 ratings active in the New Zealand Division of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve.
War years
The declaration of War in 1939 saw the normal activity of the Naval Reserve suspended. Its personnel were called up for war service. Early in the war some Reserve personnel were drafted to duties as gunners on merchant ships or to serve on Royal Navy ships, or they embarked for further training in the United Kingdom.
On 1 October 1941, New Zealand Naval forces ceased to exist. King George VI consented to the formation of the Royal New Zealand Navy and the New Zealand navy was no longer a mere division of the Royal Navy. All ships and training bases were recommissioned into the new navy, and the prefix “HMS” to their names were replaced with “HMNZS” and according volunteer reservists became the RNZNVR.
Of the 1700 Naval Reservists who trained prior to the outbreak of war, 139 lost their lives, 80 in the sinking of HMS Neptune.
Note: Just after 4am on 18 Dec 1941 HMS Neptune, 30 miles off the coast of Tripoli, struck a mine and sank within minutes. Only 16 men managed to reach a life raft. Over the next five days they died one after the other. RN Leading Seaman John Norman “Norm” Walton was the sole survivor. He was rescued by the Italians on Christmas Eve and became a Prisoner of War. Aged just 20, he spent 15 months as a POW before being released in 1943.
RNZNVR
At the end of war plans to reconstitute the Naval Reserve were put into operation. Officers were selected from those who had been demobilised and recruiting began in September 1948 with the intention of reaching a strength of 70 officers and 600 ratings. It would now be called the Royal New Zealand Naval Volunteer Reserve.
In 1947 the Government transferred a Harbour Defence Motor Launch to each unit. Naval Reservists also trained in Royal New Zealand Navy cruisers, frigates and minesweepers but the motor launches were now the mainstay of seamanship training. Training in general was focused, as in the regular force, on training Seamen, Gunners, Communicators, Radar Plotters, Electricians, Marine Engineers, Medical Assistants and Clerks.
From 1978, as the ships of the regular force became more and more complex, Naval Reserve training focused on patrol craft seamanship and engineering, and on the protection of merchant shipping. Around 1984 the motor launches were upgraded to Moa class inshore patrol vessels (IPVs).
The shift in focus stemmed from the understanding that military control of vital seaborne trade was imperative for New Zealand’s survival. The basic principle of effectively managing and protecting seaborne trade remains a basic Naval Reserve task today.
Current status
The current RNZNVR Mission is: “To contribute to the Navy mission by providing competent Reserve personnel fit for service”. The Naval Volunteer Reserve personnel are part-time volunteers, the seagoing equivalent of Army Reserves. Reservists are typically those with regular jobs, although many are also tertiary students or full-time parents, who get paid for the time they spend as a member of the Naval Reserve. Formerly crewing inshore patrol vessels, they now have opportunities to work with regular forces either at sea, ashore or overseas on peacekeeping missions.
The RNZNVR is currently organised into four regional units. Each unit has its own training headquarters under the command of a senior Reserve officer, and number up to 60 Naval Reserve personnel. The units are also commissioned ships, in the tradition of Royal Navy ‘stone frigates’ (a land base), and each bears the prefix “HMNZS” (Her Majesty’s New Zealand Ship). The units are:
- HMNZS Ngapona – Auckland
- HMNZS Olphert – Wellington
- HMNZS Pegasus – Christchurch
- HMNZS Toroa – Dunedin
Source: Wikipedia
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Thanks to Nelson RSA and MRNZ’s man in the south – great work for this fast return Mike.
Published Post medal tally is 517 (this figure may fluctuate until the Published Post total exceeds 519).
Grand Total of medals reunited with families is now 804.