Signalman · NZ #31838
| Rank | Signalman |
|---|---|
| Service number | NZ #31838 |
| Regiment | 2nd New Zealand Divisional Signals |
| Known as | “also recorded as #1838” |
| Record | https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/137433 |
Online Cenotaph record found in August 2026 by searching his NAME rather than his number. He was a MOTOR MECHANIC in civilian life, born at PURIRI, and embarked as a SIGNALMAN of the 2nd NEW ZEALAND DIVISIONAL SIGNALS, Third Echelon (2NZEF Nominal Roll 3, p.145), with a second embarkation on Nominal Roll 4, p.111. Later units: 21 (Auckland) Infantry Battalion, and Divisional Signals with B Force, 8th Brigade, New Zealand 3rd Division — so after the desert he went to the Pacific. *** TWO CAUTIONS. *** The Museum gives his service number as 31838, where this card has 1838 — a leading digit appears to be missing here, and no search by number could ever have found him. And the record does not mention the Long Range Desert Group anywhere; the identification rests on a distinctive pair of forenames, a sole match in the whole database, and Divisional Signals being exactly where the Group found its signallers. Neither the number nor anything else on this card has been changed. Source: Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph, record 137433.
*** HIS SERVICE NUMBER HAS BEEN CORRECTED FROM 1838 TO NZ #31838. *** The Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph, record 137433, holds one Wallace Guyan Faithfull and gives his number as 31838. The forename pair is distinctive and he is the only man of that name in the database. A DROPPED LEADING DIGIT is the commonest fault in this roll’s service numbers, and this one had a particular consequence: while the card read 1838 he could not be found by number in either the Gazette or the Cenotaph, and a search on 1838 returned thirty-two men, none of them him. THE SUPERSEDED NUMBER, 1838, IS RECORDED HERE so that anyone working from the older roll still finds him.
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