Malcolm Cunningham Owen (known as Dick) was born on 19 August 1921 in Palmerston North and grew up in Whanganui. After briefly training as a teacher, he enlisted for naval service during World War II and joined the Royal New Zealand Navy in 1943.

Owen served aboard the Flower-class corvette HMS Rhododendron, taking part in seven Arctic Convoys between 1943 and 1945. These convoys carried vital supplies from Britain to the Soviet Union under constant threat from submarines, aircraft, and extreme weather. Owen rose to the rank of Sub-Lieutenant and later recorded his experiences in a detailed personal account, including the rescue of Russian civilians from a damaged fishing trawler in the Arctic Ocean.

Following his discharge in 1945, Owen returned to Whanganui, where he entered business and later established Owen’s Drapery Limited. He married Olwyn Picard in 1949 and they had three children. In the 1980s, he received a medal from the Soviet Embassy recognising his Arctic Convoy service. Owen died in 2004 and is buried in Aramoho Cemetery, Whanganui (Profile written for “A Flight to Remember”, an Anzac Day 2026 initiative by Online Cenotaph and Air New Zealand). AWMM