On Saturday, about 25 relatives of Corporal Ernest Ellis Islip, at Maheno for a family reunion, gathered in Willow View Rd to watch his nephew, Bruce Pearson, of Nelson, and nieces Doreen Duncan, of Dunedin, and Reta Brown, of Timaru, unveil the white cross bearing his name and details next to an oak tree grown from an acorn taken from the original trees.
The memorial oaks are a living monument to soldiers from North Otago killed in World War 1. More than 400 oaks were planted, most on the region's main roads radiating out from an oak at the Junction, on the South Hill, for North Otago's only Victoria Cross winner, Donald Forrester Brown.
Some still survive, and the most prominent are along Severn St.
But Corporal Islip, like some others, missed out because his family had moved away from North Otago, relative Donald Ellis said.
That left no-one to ensure an oak was planted, although his name appears on the Maheno Cenotaph, honours board in the Maheno Hall and the Midora Grove.
He was born in 1894 in Milton. His family moved to Reidston in 1898 where his father was publican of the Midora Hotel. His father then went on to operate the Maheno Hotel, becoming a storekeeper in the town when the area voted for prohibition in 1905.
Cpl Islip moved to Dunedin where he was a station master before he enlisted and went to war with the New Zealand Rifle Brigade in October 1915.
He was awarded the Military Medal for scouting enemy lines for 10 days before a big raid, then single-handedly capturing 10 of the enemy and, along with others, taking more prisoners.
He was killed in action at the age of 23 during one of the Passchendaele battles on May 19, 1917.
