Bruce Basil Catchpole
Bruce was born on June 26, 1922. His sevrvice number was NZ4103. Bruce served on HMS Achilles, HMS Bleasdale, HMNZS Moa and HMNZS Gambia, reaching the rank of Lieutenant Commander. He passed away on July 26, 2012 aged 90 at Matamata, Waikato, New Zealand.
Bruce's hobby was vintage and veteran cars and was he Patron and Past President (1969-1971) of the Waikato Veteran and Vintage Car Club. Their newsletter of October 2012, Vol 49 No 10, page 9, has a nice obituary of him and I have reproduced it here:
Bruce was born in Matamata on June 26th 1922, the older child of Percy and Elsie Catchpole. He attended Matamata Primary School and then the District High School where he was selected for the Rugby 1st XV and the Cricket 1st XI at an early age, an achievement maintained when he went to Auckland Grammar for his final year.
When war broke out in 1939, Bruce enlisted with the Royal NZ Navy, serving on various vessels including HMS Achilles, HMS Bleasdale, HMNZS Moa and HMNZS Gambia, being aboard this last named when it represented New Zealand at the formal surrender of Japan in September 1945.
Returning to civilian life after the war, Bruce went first to Te Awamutu where he worked for the Farmers Auctioneering Co. and met Ruihi Duncan, who was to become his first wife and with whom he had four children, two boys and two girls. A move back to Matamata and taking over the running of Catchpole‟s Furniture in the town followed, keeping him busy until Ruihi passed away in 1987 and the business was later sold. Some years later Joyce came on the scene and they were married in 1995, remaining living in Matamata. That same year, Bruce was recruited as a Naval Relations Officer and commissioned with the rank of Lieutenant-Commander, a role which meant a great deal to him.
Bruce was introduced to the vintage car bug by John Bayly and Trevor Bear. He joined the then independent V&VCC (Waikato) Inc. in 1960, as well as being a member of the VCC Bay of Plenty Branch, having a Stutz DV16 project on the go at that time. Rallying around the region commenced in 1961 with the Stutz in phaeton form. Bruce participated in the first Haast Pass Rally in 1965 with friend Jack Castle in a 1929 Packard Super "8" Phaeton that he restored. He owned this car for twenty years and participated in many rallies in it. Bruce has owned, traded and restored many fine cars including various Stutz, a Renault, Cord, some Mercedes and a Citroen. The Packard 120 Convertible that he restored and rallied extensively won the PV section of the 1986 Pan-Pacific Rally in Christchurch. The DV32 Stutz, which was once owned by Mr. Wilson of Wilson & Horton of the NZ Herald, he retained for many years.
The adventurous activities aimed at unearthing rare and forgotten cars, parts and information continued apace, with marques such as Clement-Bayard, Mercer, Saxon, Stutz Bearcat and Brough Superior, as well as the more mundane Buick, Dodge, Citroen or Chrysler gracing the inside of his garage from time to time.
Bruce spent many years involved with the Branch PV Technical Committee (1966 to 1973) and two periods as a Committee Member (1966-68 and 1971-73). In 1968 he took up the position of Branch Vice-President and acceded to Branch President at the beginning of 1969, a position that he retained until 1971. At the time of his death Bruce was the V&VCC (Waikato) Inc. Patron and had also spent a term as VCCNZ National North Island Vice-Club Captain in earlier times.
Sadly, the issue contains an advertisement selling his 1972 Mercedes 350SL on page 20.