Medals to remember Maggie, Harry

Medals to remember Maggie, Harry

Kevin Pretty returned to Ōtaki for Anzac Day, attending both the dawn service and Retreat with a chest full of medals.

He marched with old Navy mate Willie Dawson at the 6am service, remembering others who fought – and died – in overseas conflicts.

Kevin wore some of the medals on the left of his jacket – those recognising his own service – the others worn on the right recognising the contribution of his mother, Margaret (Maggie, nee Fox), and his step-father, Henry (Harry) McNaughton.

Kevin joined the Navy after leaving Ōtaki College, along with Tommy Waaka, Graham Tahiwi and Willie Dawson. He earned his medals with a 3½year stint in the Navy.

He had two postings overseas on the frigate Otago – one for 11 months to the Far East; another of six months on joint exercises off Hawaii with the United States, Australian and Canadian navies.

He later joined brother Paul in his transport business, travelled extensively, and retired recently after running a courier service for an Auckland engineering company. He comes back to Ōtaki regularly; on the latest occasion to redecorate the house he inherited after Harry and Maggie died.

Maggie, joined the Army late in the Second World War. She was a driver mostly, but didn’t serve overseas until after the war. She went to Japan to serve in what was known as J Force, assisting Allied forces from 1946-49 with reconstruction of Japan after its surrender.

It was there she met and married Australian soldier Neville Pretty. They lived in Melbourne for a while and had two sons, Kevin and Paul.

They returned to Ōtaki, however, where Maggie worked in the telephone exchange, and later the post office. After Maggie and Neville divorced, Maggie married Harry, in 1970.

Harry had served in the Air Force and fought in what was known as the Malayan Emergency. Later, he became a squadron leader at Ohakea. Then he and Maggie followed a job he was offered in Washington DC. For four years he was a senior staff member at the New Zealand Embassy, where the couple rubbed shoulders with diplomats and struck up an enduring friendship with First Lady Nancy Reagan.

Harry and Maggie were married for 52 years before he died aged 90 in October 2022. Maggie, aged 99, died soon after, just three days before Christmas in the same year.