Denis “Shorty” Barrett

Captain · #1062, NZ #1086 · HQ Patrol · MBE, MID

What this roll records

Home in New Zealand by December 1944: on 4 December he addressed the weekly Hamilton Rotary luncheon on the Group’s work in North Africa - the sun compass “correct to within a quarter of a degree”, the aerodrome raids and how the method had to change, and the road watch during the El Alamein campaign, when “two men would be taken out into the desert at night to a spot from which enemy activity could be closely followed, and they would stay there for two days until relieved”. Source: “Desert Patrol”, Waikato Times, 5 December 1944, via Papers Past (National Library of New Zealand).

HQ Section: "Capt. D. Barrett" (Quartermaster), at the HQ1 vehicle. Brendan O'Carroll, "The Long Range Desert Group in North Africa".

On original LRP Roll (Dec 1940); LRP shows MID (twice). Source: LRP Roll (Original LRP Nominal Roll as at 5 Dec 1940, Capt L H Browne).

March 1942 roll (courtesy Tarek el Mahdy): QMS Off

Honours confirmed against the Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph: Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), British Empire Medal (BEM), Mentioned in Despatches (MiD), War Medal 1939-45, and the New Zealand War Service Medal.

The Kiwi Scorpions (Brendan O'Carroll): Capt. D. Barrett, MBE — clerk, Napier; born Paeroa, 8 Dec 1909; adjutant and quartermaster LRDG.

As quartermaster of the LRDG, organised the supply of rations, petrol, ammunition and equipment over vast distances as the base moved forward from Kufra to Zella and Hon during the Eighth Army advance. Awarded the MBE. Source: ‘The Eighth Army Advance / Reconnaissance in Tunisia’, Episodes & Studies Vol. 1 (NZ official war history).

Clerk, of Napier; born Paeroa, 8 Dec 1909. MBE, m.i.d. Adjutant and quartermaster LRDG. Source: Episodes & Studies Vol. 1 (biographical notes).

Clerk in civilian life. Source: Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph.

Embarkation detail from his Cenotaph record: he embarked as QUARTERMASTER SERGEANT, 2nd Divisional Cavalry Regiment. The rank held on this card, Captain, is his LRDG rank; promotion after embarkation was the rule rather than the exception, so the two are not in conflict. Source: Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph, record C134390.

THIS CARD CARRIES TWO DIFFERENT NEW ZEALAND SERVICE NUMBERS, #1062 and NZ #1086, separated by a comma where this roll otherwise uses a slash. One man does not hold two numbers in the same series. Both fall in the early 2NZEF band that supplied most of the Group’s New Zealanders, so both are plausible on their face. The likeliest explanation is that two roll entries were combined at some point and the numbers were run together rather than resolved. NEITHER HAS BEEN REMOVED, because there is nothing here to choose between them.

See him in the full roll →

Where this comes from

• Honours & campaign medals from Online Cenotaph: MID, BEM, MBE, War Medal 1939-45, NZ War Service Medal. Source: Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph.
• Additional sources (AWMM Online Cenotaph). Nominal Roll 2NZEF No. 1, p.14. Unit history: Loughnan, R. (1963). Divisional Cavalry.

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Not By Strength But By Guile