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Merchant Navy Association members have won the right to fly their flag above the Auckland War Memorial Museum to commemorate the war-time contribution of New Zealand seafarers.
Bill Law, chaplain to the association's Auckland branch, said the museum had agreed to fly the ensign - a replica of the New Zealand flag except with a red background - yesterday and today to mark the outbreak of World War II in September 1939. That was also the beginning of the Battle of the Atlantic, in which thousands of seafarers were killed.
More than 130 New Zealand seafarers died in the war, many of them in the Atlantic. Mr Law said his association had campaigned to raise its ensign above the harbour bridge but switched to the museum after Transit New Zealand decided to allow only the main NZ flag to fly over the bridge.
