Private · NZ #37287
| Rank | Private |
|---|---|
| Service number | NZ #37287 |
| Known as | “Les” |
| Died | 1959-08-31 |
| Record | https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/153144 |
HE DIED SUDDENLY ON 31 AUGUST 1959 AT HUTT HOSPITAL, AGED 59, and the Evening Post carried him the next day under the heading ROLL OF HONOUR. The notice states his service outright: “Veteran Second World War, Sergeant, L.R.D.G., No. 37287.” THE NUMBER IS THIS CARD’S OWN. He lived at 19 Toomath Street, Waddington; he was the dearly-loved husband of Isabella, father of Colin of Turakina and father-in-law of Patricia, grandfather of Barry, Lynne and Russell, and brother of George, Perc, Ron and Elsie (Mrs Woodley), all of Palmerston North. His funeral service was at St Columba’s Church, Naenae, at 11 a.m. on 2 September 1959, and HE WAS BURIED IN THE TAITA SERVICEMEN’S CEMETERY. ONE POINT OF DIFFERENCE, RECORDED RATHER THAN RESOLVED: the notice ranks him SERGEANT where this roll holds Private. The roll’s rank is its own; the family’s is theirs; a man’s final rank and the rank he held in the Group are often not the same, and neither is altered here. HIS AGE GIVES A BIRTH YEAR THIS CARD DID NOT HAVE: 59 on 31 August 1959 places his birth between September 1899 and August 1900. A range, not a date, so it stays in this note and out of the date-of-birth field. Source: the Evening Post, 1 September 1959, via Papers Past (National Library of New Zealand). A second notice, in the same paper on 12 September 1959, records the family’s thanks to “my late husband’s comrades in the R.S.A., L.R.D.G.” — the Group named by his widow eighteen years after the war.
Online Cenotaph record found in August 2026. A MOTOR ENGINEER AND DRIVER in civilian life — the trade the Group recruited for above all others. He embarked as a PRIVATE with INFANTRY REINFORCEMENTS, Third Echelon (2NZEF Nominal Roll 3, p.489). AND THE RECORD CARRIES A NOTE FROM HIS FAMILY, left with the Museum on 9 September 2017 by a relative: “Les was a member of the Long Range Desert Group.” That is a confirmation of his service with the Group made independently of this roll. Source: Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph, record 153144.
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