RSA awaits memorial decisions

Two South Auckland Returned Services Associations will find out this week if they have won council funding for a $700,000 war memorial at Manukau Memorial Gardens.

A Manurewa Community Board meeting will decide tonight if it will grant $401,630 toward the project. The Papatoetoe Community Board faces a similar decision - to the tune of $222,000 - tomorrow evening.

Papatoetoe RSA president Murray Smith said last week that approval of the memorial would be the culmination of years of planning. "If these two amounts ... are both agreed upon, then my understanding is work can start."

Construction could be under way at the Puhinui Rd site within a year, he said.

Board papers show the memorial would include granite panels of remembrance, a landscaped contemplation area and funeral service facilities for servicemen and RSA members. The total cost is estimated at $693,000, with 10 per cent - $69,300 - coming from the two RSAs.

For former Papakura and national RSA president Colin Topp, a green light for the memorial would mark the end of a 26-year campaign.

Final approval would mean the 83-year-old Navy veteran could "die a happy man".

"The ones who started [the project] were all World War II veterans, and I like to think we can get it to fruition so they know that the thought was there," Mr Topp said.

The area would double as an educational tool for South Auckland children, he said.

A fitting tribute to the Aucklanders who served their country was overdue, and ought to be completed while they were still alive to appreciate it, he said.

"I think it is a marvellous project ... [but] we appear to be running out of time. If our generation doesn't do it ... time goes on, and people will forget."