D-Day veteran and former reverend Hector Davis read the prayer and received the flag during the Sunset Retreat at Ōtaki Cemetery on Anzac Day.

Hector, who lives in Waikanae, had reached 100 years of age only a couple of weeks before, on April 9. He joined the Army as a cartographer with the Royal Engineers in 1943. During the D-Day landings at Normandy that began on June 6, 1944, he was a part of the field survey unit, ensuring maps were accurate and surveying roads for the Allied troops. Hector remembers being under fire from German planes, and could see them attacking the beaches at night.

He later worked as a teacher and was an Anglican minister.