Lawrence Douglas “Clary” Roderick

Lance Corporal · NZ #1113 · T Patrol

What this roll records

HIS HOME TOWN’S PAPER, ON THE MANNER OF HIS DEATH AND THE LIFE BEFORE IT. Details reached his aunt, Mrs E. Roderick of Gisborne, and were printed there in October 1944: a prisoner of war in Italy for two and a half years, he escaped and “was leading a band of rebels in Italy when he was shot and killed by Fascists at Susso D’Ombrone, near Grosseto”, and was buried in that locality — he lies now in Bolsena War Cemetery, so he was moved there later. BEFORE THE WAR: educated in Gisborne and then in Australia, and a prominent boxer who won the First Echelon N.Z.E.F. light-weight championship and represented the New Zealand boxing team against the A.I.F. team. He went overseas with the Divisional Cavalry and “served in the initial group of the Long Range Patrol, later known as the Long Range Desert Group”. THREE DISAGREEMENTS, ALL RECORDED RATHER THAN RESOLVED. The paper dates his death to 5 April where this roll and the CWGC hold 6 April 1944. It calls him Corporal and spells him “Clarrie” where the roll has Lance Corporal and “Clary”. And it says he was born in Gisborne in September 1920 and was the fifth son of Mr and Mrs G. Roderick, where every other source here gives 19 February 1913 — while the Online Cenotaph records him as aged 27 when he died, which fits neither date. THE ROLL STANDS ON ALL THREE; the birth date is now a three-way disagreement and is flagged here so nobody has to find it twice. Source: “Second N.Z.E.F. List”, Gisborne Herald, 31 October 1944, page 4, via Papers Past (National Library of New Zealand).

On original LRP Roll (5 Dec 1940): T — Gnr T Patrol; PW captured Gebel Sherif 31 Jan 41. Source: LRP Roll (Original LRP Nominal Roll as at 5 Dec 1940, Capt L H Browne).

Cenotaph record linked. Source: Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph.

Captured in North Africa: T Patrol, 31 Jan 1941, Jebel Sherif. escaped 1943; killed in action, Italy, 6 Aug 1944 (annotated April). Source: "Names of LRDG NZ personnel captured in North African campaign" (per Brendan O’Carroll).

North Africa — 31 Jan 1941, Jebel Sherif: killed in action. Escaped from Campo 38 in Sep 1943 and joined the local partisans; killed fighting fascist forces near Grosseto, 6 Apr 1944. Source: TRACKS magazine (LRDG Association), Ian Chard, 'Not all were lucky — LRDG missing in North Africa', June 2023.

CWGC: Lance Corporal Lawrence Douglas Roderick, service no. 1113, New Zealand Armoured Corps (Divisional Cavalry Regt) and Long Range Desert Group. Died 6 April 1944 (in Italy, near Grosseto, having been a prisoner since Gebel Sherif in 1941 and escaped in 1943). Buried at Bolsena War Cemetery, grave III.A.3, Italy. Source: Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

DATA FLAG: this WWII LRDG record (Lawrence Douglas Roderick) is linked to the WRONG AWMM record — that page (C122575) is "Roderick Bissett", a South African War (Boer War, 1899-1902) veteran, an entirely different man. The Cenotaph link needs correcting. No AWMM data applied here.

Incorrect Cenotaph link removed from the card to avoid misdirecting visitors. The wrong link pointed to record C122575 (Roderick Bissett, Boer War). Find and attach the correct Online Cenotaph record for this man.

The Kiwi Scorpions (Brendan O'Carroll): L-Cpl L. Roderick — linesman; born Gisborne, 19 Feb 1913; taken prisoner 31 Jan 1941; killed in Italy, 6 Apr 1944, while leading Italian partisans.

One of Clayton’s two New Zealand companions captured with him at Gebel Sherif, 31 January 1941. Source: ‘Long Range Desert Group in Libya, 1940–41’, Episodes & Studies Vol. 1 (NZ official war history).

Linesman; born Gisborne, 19 Feb 1913. Prisoner of war 31 Jan 1941; killed in Italy, 6 Apr 1944, while leading Italian partisans. Source: Episodes & Studies Vol. 1 (biographical notes).

L-Cpl L. Roderick; linesman; born Gisborne, 19 Feb 1913; p.w. 31 Jan 1941; killed in action, Italy, 6 Apr 1944. Source: Divisional Cavalry (NZ official war history).

Online Cenotaph record found and attached in August 2026, answering the request recorded on this card: the correct record is C31426, not C122575, which belongs to a Boer War soldier. It agrees with this card at every point where the two overlap — born 19 February 1913 at Gisborne, a linesman, captured 31 January 1941 in the Western Desert, killed in action in Italy on 6 April 1944 aged 27, last rank Lance Corporal of the Divisional Cavalry — which settles the April date against the 6 August annotation noted elsewhere. New from the record: his prison camps are named as P.G. 38 at POPPI, Italy (the Campo 38 he escaped from in September 1943) and the MILITARY HOSPITAL MORIGI at PIACENZA; he is buried in BOLSENA WAR CEMETERY, Italy, grave III.A.3; he is commemorated on the Marlborough War Memorial, Second World War panel; and an In Memoriam notice for him appeared in the New Zealand Herald of 16 August 1944, vol. 81, issue 24973, p.1. Source: Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph, record C31426.

NAMED IN PRINT AS ONE OF THE FIRST PRISONERS TAKEN IN THE DESERT. The Northern Advocate of 19 May 1945, reporting the safe arrival in England of L/Cpl W. R. (“Wink”) Adams of Whangarei after more than four years in enemy hands: Adams “left New Zealand with the First Echelon and was taken prisoner on February 1, 1941. He was attached as a driver to the Long Range Desert Group, and, with Major Clayton, of England, and Pte. Roderick, of Nelson, was one of the first prisoners taken in the desert.” THREE MEN OF THIS ROLL IN ONE SENTENCE - Adams NZ #1074, Major P. A. Clayton #147264 and L/Cpl L. D. Roderick NZ #1113 - reckoned together by a provincial paper four years after the event. Source: Northern Advocate, 19 May 1945, via Papers Past (National Library of New Zealand).

See him in the full roll →

Where this comes from

• Missing info added from the LRDG Preservation Society’s Troopers roll.
• AKA added from the LRDG Preservation Society’s Troopers roll (missing information).
• Murzuk Raid roll (courtesy Tarek el Mahdy)

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.

Not By Strength But By Guile