Private · NZ #9660 · T Patrol · MM
| Rank | Private |
|---|---|
| Service number | NZ #9660 |
| Patrol | T Patrol |
| Role | Driver |
| Known as | “Merv” |
| Born | 1917-10-18 |
| Honours | MM |
| Record | https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C135531 |
Military Medal, announced in The London Gazette of 30 December 1941. The roll previously recorded no honours for this man. The recommendation survives at The National Archives, Kew, in series WO 373 (War Office, Military Secretary’s Department: Recommendations for Honours and Awards for Gallantry). His file is WO 373/27/491, catalogued as “Recommendation for Award for Curtis, Mervyn William. Rank: Private. Service No: 9660. Regiment: New Zealand Military Forces” — the service number matching the one held here. IMPORTANT: the theatre on that file is given as “Middle East (Greece and Crete)”, and the recommendation concerns the attack on Maleme aerodrome during the German airborne assault on Crete in May 1941, where an aircraft shot down on the beach overturned and trapped its pilot upside down in his seat while the enemy fired incendiary rounds to set it alight; Curtis freed him and carried him to safety. THIS AWARD WAS THEREFORE NOT WON WITH THE LRDG — the roll records him returning to unit from R Patrol in December 1940, five months before Crete. It is recorded here as a decoration he held, not as an LRDG action. Sources: Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph; The National Archives Discovery catalogue.
On original LRP Roll (5 Dec 1940): R — returned to unit. Source: LRP Roll (Original LRP Nominal Roll as at 5 Dec 1940, Capt L H Browne).
Forename corrected in August 2026 from “Meryvn” to “Mervyn” — the v and the y had been transposed. Both the Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph and his National Archives award file give Mervyn William against service number 9660.
Born 18 October 1917 at Greymouth. A motor mechanic in civilian life. Embarked as a Private with 27 (Machine Gun) Battalion. Source: Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph.
Motor mechanic in civilian life. Source: Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph.
Cenotaph record linked. Source: Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph.
The prefix NZ has been added to his service number, on the authority of the Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph record already linked on this card — the Museum holds him as a New Zealand service person. The digits are unchanged. This roll formerly left the number unmarked, which made it look like a British number to anyone reading the field rather than the card.
See him in the full roll →This page is part of the Long Range Desert Group roll of members at lrdgarchive.org. If you hold rights to anything on it and would like it credited differently, or taken down, please see Sources and Copyright. It will be dealt with promptly.
Not By Strength But By Guile