Hello Mary and List members, Thank you for sharing the photo. Mary's photo is online - it is Alex's service record image 9, but Mary's copy is far better. image 10 is a photo of his headstone, a post war grave, with a war memorial in the background. Maybe someone will recognize the background. http://archives.govt.nz/world-war-one Glancing at his service record He enlisted 18 Dec. 1916 at age 36 and 11 months and had been in NZ seven years. His will was held at 96 Rochester Rd, Melbourne. So he probably came over from Scotland to Melbourne to NZ. He was a carpenter. Had a brother in Victoria and another back in Scotland. He lived at 28 George St, Rooky Nook, Auckland. Thomas Murray, a tailor was also living there and Robert Stuart, pastry cook, 47 Kensington Ave, Mt Eden, Auckland, witnessed his second will, 10 Aug. 1921. Their parents were deceased. What is interesting is that his rank was a snapper, an engineer, and was in the 25th Reinforcements. He went over on the same ship as the 5th Tunneling Company. He picked up Pulmonary TB while in the service in France. You only get that when in close contact with someone for an extended time. It is airborne. Was he a tunneller? Discharged 25th April 1919 no longer fit for war service. He died in 1921 from a illness acquired in the service.

On 15/02/2017 8:44 AM, Olwyn Whitehouse wrote: > Hello Mary and List members, > > What is interesting is that his rank was a snapper, an engineer, and was in > the 25th Reinforcements. He went over on the same ship as the 5th Tunneling > Company. He picked up Pulmonary TB while in the service in France. You only > get that when in close contact with someone for an extended time. It is > airborne. Was he a tunneller? > Discharged 25th April 1919 no longer fit for war service. > He died in 1921 from a illness acquired in the service. > Sappers dug tunnels under the German trenches and blew them up. To quote(?) Shakespeare - "The engineer, hoist by his own petard". Brian Fleming

Thanks Olwyn, Fascinating and informative. I immediately looked up my gt gt uncle who survived both world wars and found 37 pages of information about him. Service, training, postings, a doctor's letter and some medical things I doubt he'd want others to know like his scabies and other ailments which landed him in hospital but he fought in France and Belgium, survived the trenches and the flu, received a couple of medals and lived until 1975 a happy (I hope) sheep farmer. One of the lucky ones. Best wishes, Jane in Scotland On 14/02/2017 21:44, Olwyn Whitehouse wrote: > Hello Mary and List members, > Thank you for sharing the photo. > Mary's photo is online - it is Alex's service record image 9, but Mary's > copy is far better. > image 10 is a photo of his headstone, a post war grave, with a war memorial > in the background. > Maybe someone will recognize the background. > http://archives.govt.nz/world-war-one > > Glancing at his service record > He enlisted 18 Dec. 1916 at age 36 and 11 months and had been in NZ seven > years. > His will was held at 96 Rochester Rd, Melbourne. So he probably came over > from Scotland to Melbourne to NZ. He was a carpenter. > Had a brother in Victoria and another back in Scotland. > He lived at 28 George St, Rooky Nook, Auckland. > Thomas Murray, a tailor was also living there and > Robert Stuart, pastry cook, 47 Kensington Ave, Mt Eden, Auckland, witnessed > his second will, 10 Aug. 1921. > Their parents were deceased. > > What is interesting is that his rank was a snapper, an engineer, and was in > the 25th Reinforcements. He went over on the same ship as the 5th Tunneling > Company. He picked up Pulmonary TB while in the service in France. You only > get that when in close contact with someone for an extended time. It is > airborne. Was he a tunneller? > Discharged 25th April 1919 no longer fit for war service. > He died in 1921 from a illness acquired in the service. > > > The List Guidelines > > http://new-zealand-l.blogspot.com/ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

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