Rank:
Qualified Wren
Birth date:
08.07.1938
Birth Place:
Masterton
Service Number:
1070
Date Joined:
22.08.1956
Date Discharged:
21.08.1959
Death date:
09.04.2008
Display No. 20F
CLEWETT (nee BENTON), Yvonne Isabell
Yvonne Benton was a Nurse Aide when she joined the Women’s Royal New Zealand Naval Service (WRNZNS) at 18 years old. She trained at Philomel as a Probationary Wren in the Steward Branch and then entered service as an Able Steward and served at Philomel, first in the Philomel wardroom and subsequently at Elizabeth House. In 1959 she was discharged from the WRNZNS with the expiry of her engagement.
Awarded medal(s)
New Zealand Defence Service Medal
The New Zealand Defence Service Medal (NZDSM) was instituted in April 2011 to recognise military service since the end of the Second World War. One or more of four clasps can be awarded with the medal determined by military service undertaken: Regular, Territorial, C.M.T. (Compulsory Military Training) and National Service.
Eligibility is three years of service in either the Regular or Territorial (Reserve) Forces of the New Zealand Defence Force (Navy, Army, Airforce), or those who undertook Compulsory Military Training (under the Military Training Act 1949) or National Service (under the National Military Service Act 1962).
The medal itself has the New Zealand fern frond and the badge of the New Zealand Defence Force which combines the emblems of the (Navy, Army and Air Force). The ribbon colours also represent the three services: Navy (dark blue), Army (red) and Air Force (light blue).