William John “Bill” Hamilton

Lance Corporal · NZ #7082 · T Patrol

What this roll records

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.

Cenotaph-verified 27 Jul 2026 (record link added).

On original LRP Roll (5 Dec 1940): R — Gnr R Patrol; returned unit. Source: LRP Roll (Original LRP Nominal Roll as at 5 Dec 1940, Capt L H Browne).

On the R Patrol Nominal Roll, 31 March 1941: L/Cpl Hamilton W.J., 7082. Source: Brendan O'Carroll, 'R Patrol, Long Range Desert Group' (R Patrol Nominal Roll, 31 March 1941). Master records patrol 'T', a later posting; R Patrol was his 31 Mar 1941 assignment.

Labourer in civilian life. Embarked/served with 27 (Machine Gun) Battalion. Source: Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph.

The Kiwi Scorpions (Brendan O'Carroll): Cpl W. J. Hamilton — labourer, Auckland; born Auckland, 23 Jun 1917.

One of the five New Zealanders on Captain Clayton’s first LRP reconnaissance into Libya across the Sand Sea (1940). Source: ‘Long Range Desert Group in Libya, 1940–41’, Episodes & Studies Vol. 1 (NZ official war history).

Labourer, of Auckland; born Auckland, 23 Jun 1917. Source: Episodes & Studies Vol. 1 (biographical notes).

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

See him in the full roll →

Where this comes from

• AKA added from the LRDG Preservation Society’s Troopers roll (missing information).
• LRDG Nominal Roll, 28 Dec 1940 – Jan 1941 (courtesy Tarek el Mahdy)
• Additional sources (AWMM Online Cenotaph). Nominal Roll 2NZEF No. 1 (Embarkations to 31 Mar 1940). Unit history: Kay, R. (1958). 27 (Machine Gun) Battalion.
• Listed in the LRDG Preservation Society’s Troopers roll.

In collaboration withThe Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) Preservation SocietyTo add information about this man, or note a correction, please post in the Society’s Facebook Group →

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.

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