Corporal · NZ #1349 · HQ Patrol · MID
| Rank | Corporal |
|---|---|
| Service number | NZ #1349 |
| Patrol | HQ Patrol |
| Regiment | 2nd NZ Divisional Cavalry Regiment |
| Known as | “Les” |
| Honours | MID |
| Campaign medals | War Medal 1939-45, NZ War Service Medal |
| Record | https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C130617 |
HIS MENTION IN DESPATCHES, AND THE ONLY BIOGRAPHY OF HIM IN PRINT. The Northern Advocate of 10 July 1941 printed “Northlanders Mentioned In Despatches”, an eleven-column list, and gave a paragraph to each of several men. His reads: “CPL. G. L. DAVISON. Corporal Gordon Leslie Davison, aged 34, is English born, and came to New Zealand in 1926. He was in business in Whangarei for a period, and was well known…” The list itself records him as “Cpl. G. L. Davison - Mrs E. M. Davison, Whangarei (wife)”. A NAME TO SETTLE: the paper calls him GORDON Leslie Davison; this roll holds him as GEORGE Leslie Davison. The initials, the town and the unit all agree, so it is one man, but the forename is not settled and is left standing both ways rather than corrected on the strength of one newspaper. THREE OTHERS OF THIS ROLL APPEAR IN THE SAME LIST - Cpl R. F. Beech (since deceased), Sgt J. R. Shepherd, and Private R. A. Tinker - which is a fair measure of how many of the Group’s New Zealanders came from the north. The item is a paragraph inside a very long list, so it is recorded here rather than scanned. Source: Northern Advocate, 10 July 1941, via Papers Past (National Library of New Zealand).
Cenotaph-verified 27 Jul 2026 (record link added).
Engineer in civilian life; served with the 2nd NZ Divisional Cavalry Regiment. A portrait appeared in the Northern Advocate, 16 July 1941. Source: Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph.
Original member of the Long Range Patrol (LRP), 1940 — listed with the “LRP” comment in the nominal roll, The Kiwi Scorpions (Brendan O'Carroll).
His Mention in Despatches dates from about 1940–41 and is recorded as being “following operations in the Western Desert, Libya and Cyrenaica from December 1940–1941”. 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