Some Resources for You
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The user-friendly, CWGC website is the go-to resource if you are seeking information on the graves and memorials of those who died during the two World Wars. You can search by cemeteries/memorials or war dead.
There are some excellent articles and resources to be found on the site, but you will likely come here to undertake a search. You can filter your search by ‘War’, the ‘Country Served With’, the ‘Branch of Services Served In’, ‘Country Where Died’ and the ‘Cemetery or Memorial’.
Details to be found include, Name, Rank, Service (Regimental) Number, Date of Death, Age, Name of Cemetery/Memorial, Grave/Memorial Reference; Regiment, Country of Service and where known, details of Next of Kin.
The New Zealand War Graves Project
To quote from the website ..
“To photograph all the war graves and primary memorials of New Zealanders who, serving with New Zealand and Allied forces, died in conflicts, from the Anglo-Boer war (1899-1902), to the present-day and in peacekeeping operations. 2. To create a digital archive and database, accessed via a website, enabling free public access to biographical information and images.
A primary memorial is the principal burial reference for a war casualty where there is no known grave, for example for those of naval personnel lost as sea or soldiers buried anonymously in a mass grave”.
Definitely worth your while, dropping by the site from time to time to check out all the latest updates.
Genealogical Websites
At the time I undertook trawls of the Find a Grave and Billiongraves websites, I also carried out a Google search.
A large number of names were shown to exist on Genealogical websites, such as Ancestry.com.au, Geni.com, My Heritage.com etc and quite a few Obituary and Article pages were also pulled up. This enabled me to add quite a lot of additional information into the ‘Other Details’ column.
The information I found here was at times conflicting between different sites, and within what sometimes were many trees for the same person within each site, and so the same degree of reliance cannot be placed on it, as for that found on some of the more ‘official’ sources such as the BDM. That said, any information which is going to help flesh out a profile of sorts has to be valuable, even if it occasionally gives us a ‘bum steer.’ Besides, as I have implied elsewhere on the website, NO resource records can be absolutely relied on, whether official, or otherwise.
With the passage of time we are going to see many more nuggets of valuable information appear in this online space; so earmark these websites for future research.
Kaye, George Frederick, 1914-2004. New Zealand armoured car and Italian refugees, Italy, during World War 2. New Zealand. Department of Internal Affairs. War History Branch :Photographs relating to World War 1914-1918, World War 1939-1945, occupation of Japan, Korean War, and Malayan Emergency. Ref: DA-06007-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. http://natlib.govt.nz/records/23106776
“Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.”
The two National War Museums:
Two big national museums warrant mention here: the Auckland War Memorial Museum and the National Army Museum in Waiouru.
I will not elaborate on these two useful resource sites, but should you choose to check them out, then almost certainly you will want to follow through with a visit to the museums when visiting either Auckland or Waiouru.
Certainly, quite a lot of the information to be found on the rolls, has been derived from the former.
The Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington, also warrants mention. Here you will find a vast collection relating to NZ’s conflicts and so much in between. The Library kindly let me use the photographs you see on the Freedoms Call website.
You may also like to familiarise yourself with the following:
* Requests for military personnel records
I have appended a list of war and campaign medals at the foot of the page.
Archives NZ also holds information in respect of the following:
* Records of awards to New Zealanders in WWII
* The New Zealand Home Guard. There are some records but no full rolls.
* Quite extensive records pertaining to the Maori Battalion
* A variety of maps from World War II
* Copies of the Nominal Rolls including one for soldiers returning from overseas in 1940/1941.
* Some papers relating to the New Zealand Army Nursing Service
* Two series of WWII (Pacific) photographs and some other series
* A number of records relating to Prisoners of War (POWs)
* War diaries and rolls relating to J-Force
* Closed military personnel files
and a lot more information as well.
Street scene in Galatas, Crete, Greece, during World War 2. New Zealand. Department of Internal Affairs. War History Branch :Photographs relating to World War 1914-1918, World War 1939-1945, occupation of Japan, Korean War, and Malayan Emergency. Ref: DA-12652-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. http://natlib.govt.nz/records/22405970
“Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.”
In the first instance you will want to visit the Archives NZ website
* Northland Memorials, – many are listed here.
* Online access to a 50 volume series covering all aspects on New Zealand’s involvement in the Second World War along with a vast array of literature chronicling specific topics relating to New Zealanders’ operations within the various theatres. This is sheer gold!
The British Commonwealth War and Campaign Medals Awarded to New Zealanders (Army) who served in World War II (1939-1945) are:
The 1939-1945 Star, the Atlantic Star, the Africa Star, the Pacific Star, the Burma Star, the Italy Star, the France and Germany Star, the Defence Medal and the War Medal 1939-1945.
Information on all of these medals can be found here. Note: Service in a specific operation within the wider campaign area is often recognised by the award of a clasp engraved with the name of the specific area or activity. An example is The Africa Star which has three clasps, 1st Army, 8th Army and North Africa 42-43.
The New Zealand Service Medal was also awarded by New Zealand for World War II service.
The New Zealand Memorial Cross (King George) was awarded to those who were killed on active service during WW II, or who subsequently died of wounds.
Recently the New Zealand Defence Service Medal was struck. Some World War II vets who undertook service with the territorials back here in NZ, post war, or who went on to join J-Force may qualify. Applications are currently being invited from qualifying ex vets and their families.
In 1996 service by J-Force personnel was recognised by New Zealand with the issue of the New Zealand Service Medal 1946-1949. Many J-Force members may also qualify for the New Zealand Defence Service Medal. Applications are currently being invited from ex J-Force members and their families.
New Zealand soldiers awaiting evacuation from Crete. New Zealand. Department of Internal Affairs. War History Branch :Photographs relating to World War 1914-1918, World War 1939-1945, occupation of Japan, Korean War, and Malayan Emergency. Ref: DA-10636-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. http://natlib.govt.nz/records/22849554
“Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.”
Foreign awards to individual New Zealanders during the Second World War included the Croix de Guerre (Belgium, France), the Military Cross (Greece), the Bronze Star (USA), and the Legion of Merit (USA). A small number of New Zealanders received gallantry or meritorious service awards from Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, the USSR and Yugoslavia.
Via the link you will find information on British Commonwealth Gallantry, Meritorious and Distinguished Service Awards.
Some veterans may well have received post war one of another group of Good Conduct and Long Service medals, awarded for a specified length of unblemished service.
A reminder .. have you got your Roll yet?
