#4915562
| Service number | #4915562 |
|---|---|
| Died | 1984-06-07 |
AN INITIAL AND A NUMBER UNTIL NOW: THIS CARD HELD “SPENCER, W.” AND #4915562, AND NOTHING ELSE. HIS NAME WAS JOSEPH WILLIAM SPENCER. The Press death notice of 9 June 1984 reads “SPENCER, Joseph William, of St John’s Court (late L.R.D.G., Reg. No. 4915562)” — THE NUMBER MATCHES THIS CARD DIGIT FOR DIGIT, and it is a British Army number, which fits a man whose family the notice places in the United Kingdom. HE DIED ON 7 JUNE 1984 AT THE BURWOOD HOSPITAL, CHRISTCHURCH. He was the husband of Ethel and the father and father-in-law of John and Whetu, the granddad of Antoinette, and the brother-in-law of Daisy, Millie and Charles in the United Kingdom, with nieces and nephews there too — A BRITISH SOLDIER OF THE GROUP WHO SETTLED IN NEW ZEALAND AND DIED THERE. No flowers by request, but donations to the Nurse Maude District Nursing Association. His funeral service was held in the Canterbury Crematorium Chapel, Linwood Avenue, on 11 June 1984. WHERE HE SPENT HIS LAST ILLNESS, AND AS NEAR AS THE RECORD COMES TO SAYING WHAT OF: a second notice, from his nieces and nephews Gordon, Ngaire, Leigh, Craig, Karen and Michael, calls him “a patient sufferer, at rest. Sadly missed”, and ends “our grateful thanks to staff of THE BURWOOD SPINAL UNIT”. He died at Burwood, in the unit that treats spinal injury and disease. Source: the Press, 9 June 1984, 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