HAPPY 104th BIRTHDAY TO WWII VETERAN ARCH JELLEY CNZM OBE

HAPPY 104th BIRTHDAY TO WWII VETERAN ARCH JELLEY CNZM OBE
This week on the 13 August 2026, we wish a very special happy 104th birthday to one of New Zealand’s remarkable surviving Second World War veterans — Arch Jelley.
Born in Dunedin on 13 August 1922, Arch’s extraordinary life spans service, education and some of the greatest moments in New Zealand athletics.
During the Second World War, Arch initially served with the New Zealand Scottish Regiment before transferring to the Navy and travelling to Britain for training.
He served aboard the cruiser HMS Bermuda on the dangerous Arctic Convoys to Russia, one of the harshest naval campaigns of the war.
Arch was subsequently commissioned as a Sub-Lieutenant in the RNZNVR and served as a gunnery officer in coastal submarines. His final naval posting was as Third Hand and Navigator aboard HMS Vagabond.
After returning home, Arch became a teacher and eventually a school principal — but it was athletics that would make his name known throughout New Zealand.
He became one of our greatest running coaches, most famously guiding John Walker to his historic 3:49.4 world mile record in 1975 and then to Olympic gold in the 1500 metres at Montreal in 1976.
Over more than five decades of coaching, Arch helped generations of New Zealand athletes reach national and international level. He was appointed OBE for services to athletics in 1981, later CNZM, and in 2024 was made a Life Member of Athletics New Zealand.
But , on his 104th birthday, we particularly remember another part of Arch Jelley’s remarkable life:
He was one of the young New Zealanders who went to war.
From Arctic waters and wartime submarines to Olympic stadiums and generations of young New Zealanders — what an extraordinary 104 years.