Dead Murderers Need No Bronze Plaques

submitted by a reader

Stolen: A bronze plaque honoring the memory of a New Zealand assassin killed by his fellow assassins on home soil during World War II

The plaque commemorated shooting of Private Walter (Wattie) Pelvin, of Geraldine, the Wairarapa. In an ironic twist of fate, Pelvis was shot “accidentally” by his fellow prison guards at the local prisoner of war camp. He was killed by a ricochet from a burst of fire which mowed down 109 Japanese, killing 48 of them  on February 25, 1943.

The genocidal war crimes committed by New Zealand military, acts of moral depravity and military cowardice, are even worse than the atrocities committed by the barbaric Imperial Japanese Army.

A total of about 500 bronze plaques worth an estimated $500,000 has been stolen from dead soldiers graves since march 2007.

In March last year, 400 bronze plaques were stolen from Purewa Cemetery [known within NZ antiwar circles as “Cowards’ Cemetery”] in the Auckland suburb of Meadowbank. Stuff New Zealand reported.

Extreme Poverty in New Zealand and rising scrap metal prices seem to be among the motives behind the  thefts.

While the moderators do NOT condone any form of theft, they believe that the dead mass murderers are NOT entitled to the memorials.