| Known as | “Ron” |
|---|
A PROBABLE IDENTIFICATION, NOT A PROVEN ONE, AND IT IS PUT HERE AS SUCH. The Press of 11 June 1981 carried: “DAVIS, Ronald Oliver, of 55 Somerfield Street, Christchurch 2 — On June 10, 1981, at Christchurch … (Late British 8th Army, L.R.D.G.)”. WHAT AGREES: the surname; the initial R, which is all this card has; the nickname Ron already recorded here; membership of the Long Range Desert Group, stated in the notice itself; and a British rather than a New Zealand background, which fits a card that carries no NZ service number. WHAT IS MISSING: A SERVICE NUMBER IN EITHER PLACE. This card has none, and the notice gives none, so there is nothing to lock the two together. The roll holds four men named Davis, of whom this is the only one recorded as R./Ron without a number. On that basis the notice is attached here and the reasoning is shown, so that anyone who can settle it either way has what is needed. IF IT IS HIM: he died suddenly on 10 JUNE 1981 at Christchurch, the husband of Mary, father and father-in-law of John and Toni of Auckland and of Mary, and the granddad of Nicola and Raewyn. No flowers by request. HIS BODY WAS BEQUEATHED TO MEDICAL SCIENCE, so there is no grave; a memorial service was held in the chapel at the corner of Durham and St Asaph Streets on 12 June 1981. Source: the Press, 11 June 1981, via Papers Past (National Library of New Zealand).
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