William Alfred Mason Dray
Born 23 Sept 1888 - Died 26 Aug 1918
- Service number
- WWI 62276 AWMM
- Also known as
- A.W.M. Dray AWMM
- Armed force / branch
- Army AWMM
- Last rank
- WW1 Rifleman AWMM New Zealand Rifle Brigade, 2nd Battalion AWMM
- War
- World War I, 1914-1918 AWMM
About
- Title
- —
- Forenames
- William Alfred Mason AWMM
- Surname
- Dray AWMM
- Ingoa
- —
- Also known as
- A.W.M. Dray AWMM
- Service number
- WWI 62276 AWMM
- Gender
- Male AWMM
- Iwi / Hapū / Waka / Rohe
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- Religion
- Church of England, Christian AWMM
Images
Documents
About birth
- Birth
- 23 Sept 1888 Peter Dennis, UNSW Canberra
- Date of birth
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- Place of birth
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- Birth notes
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- Address before enlistment
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- Post war occupation
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- Next of kin
- Mrs Elsie Dray (wife), Goldsmith Street, Leamington, New Zealand AWMM
- Relationship status
- —
Wars and conflicts
- War
- World War I, 1914-1918 AWMM
- Campaign
- 1914-1919 AWMM Western Front AWMM
- Armed force / branch
- Army AWMM
- Service number
- WWI 62276 AWMM
- Military service
- —
- Promotions/ Postings/ Transfers
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Military decorations
- Medals and Awards
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Training and Enlistment
- Military training
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- Branch Trade Proficiency
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- Enlistment
- WW1 Unknown AWMM Plumber AWMM
- Age on enlistment
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- Occupation before enlistment
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Embarkations
- Embarkation details
- WW1 31 Dec 1917-25 Feb 1918 AWMM
HMNZT 99 AWMM Vessel was Athenic AWMM Private AWMM 33rd Reinforcements, Canterbury Infantry Regiment, C Company AWMM New Zealand Expeditionary Force AWMM
Prisoner of war
- Capture details
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- Days interned
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- Liberation date
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- POW liberation details
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- Liberation Repatriation
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- POW serial number
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Medical history
- Medical notes
- Killed in Action, Cause of Death AWMM
- Height, WWI AWMM
5' 5.5" AWMM - Weight, WWI AWMM
125 lb AWMM
Last known rank
- Last rank
- WW1 Rifleman AWMM
New Zealand Rifle Brigade, 2nd Battalion AWMM - Last rank
- —
Biographical information
- Son of Fredrick and Letitia Dray, of Auckland; husband of Elsie Dray, of Leamington, Cambridge
Listed as A.W.M. Dray on the Cambridge War Memorial
Marched in and posted to C Company, 30th Reinforcements with rank of private, Trentham Camp, Upper Hutt, 26 July 1917. Transferred to C Company, 31st Reinforcements, 18 August 1917. Transferred to Featherston Camp Details, Featherston Camp, Wairarapa, 24 October 1917. Proceeded overseas from Wellington with 33rd Reinforcements on board HMNZT 'Athenic', 31 December 1917.
Disembarked Glasgow, Scotland, 25 February 1918; marched into No 4 Camp and taken on strength, Composite (Canterbury & Otago) Reserve Battalion, Larkhill, Wiltshire, 26 February 1918. Marched out to New Zealand Rifle Brigade Reserve Depot, Brocton, Staffordshire, 28 February 1918.
Proceeded overseas to France, 28 April 1918.
Disembarked and marched in to New Zealand Infantry and General Base Depot, Etaples, France, 30 April 1918. Taken on strength 2nd Battalion, New Zealand Rifle Brigade, and posted to D Company, in the field, 3 May 1918.
Admitted to No 3 New Zealand Field Ambulance, in the field, 2 July 1918 (sick); discharged from No 3 New Zealand Field Ambulance and rejoined unit, in the field, 8 July 1918.
Reported by Battalion headquarters on 31 August 1918 to have gone missing in action on 26 August 1918; previously reported missing, now reported on 7 September 1918 by Reverend J H Smith (attached to 2nd Battalion, New Zealand Rifle Brigade), to have been killed in action and buried near Bapaume on 26 August 1918.
Parents: Fredrick and Letitia Dray, Auckland; Wife: Elsie Dray, of Leamington, Cambridge
Next of Kin: Mrs E. Dray, Leamington, Waipa (Roll of Honour, Auckland Province 1914-1918 (Volume 1))
His signature appears on a World War II signature tablecloth begun about 1940 by Mrs Emma (Pat) Simmonds and her mother, Mrs Ansell, and completed after the war. The cloth includes signatures of New Zealand and British service personnel, US personnel based at Waikaraka Camp, and others. Its embroidery also includes a reference to 24th Army Troops Company, NZE, Suva, Fiji, 1942. Collection of Auckland Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira, 1999.76.1. AWMM
About death
- Death
- 26 Aug 1918 AWMM
Age 29 AWMM - Date of death
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- Age at death
- —
- Place of death
- —
- Cause of death
- Killed in Action AWMM
- Death notes
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- Cemetery
- Vaulx Hill Cemetery, Pas-de-Calais, France AWMM I. C. 3. AWMM
- Cemetery name
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- Grave reference
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- Obituary
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- Memorial name
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- Memorial reference
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Memorial
- Memorial name
- Cambridge War Memorial, Queen Street, Cambridge, New Zealand AWMM
- Hautapu RSA Memorial 1914-1918 and 1939-1945, Leamington, Cambridge AWMM
- Cambridge Cenotaph, Victoria St, Cambridge 3434 AWMM
- Cambridge World War One War Memorials AWMM
- Auckland War Memorial Museum, World War 1 Hall of Memories AWMM
Related objects
Sources
- External links
- Military personnel file
https://collections.archives.govt.nz/web/arena/search/#/entity/aims-archive/R20998596
Further Reference - A Street Near You record
https://astreetnearyou.org/person/614375/-
Further Reference - Commonwealth War Graves Commission Casualty record
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/614375
Further Reference
- Military personnel file
- References
- Ferguson, David (1921). The history of the Canterbury Regiment, N.Z.E.F. 1914-1919. Whitcombe and Tombs Ltd: Auckland, N.Z.
- New Zealand Army Expeditionary Force. (1918). Nominal Rolls of New Zealand Expeditionary Force Volume III. Wellington, N.Z.: Govt. Printer.
76: 10 - NZEF Peter Dennis, UNSW Canberra
- Roll of Honour, Auckland Province (digital copy), 1914 - 1919. Auckland War Memorial Museum Library. MS-2016-2.
- Austin, W. (1924). The official history of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade (The Earl of Liverpool's Own). Wellington, N.Z.: L T Watkins.
- HMNZT 99 - Te huia : the magazine of the 33rd Reinforcement. Printed and published by the Argus Printing Company for the Executive Committee of "Te Huia," 33rd Reinforcements, New Zealand Expeditionary Force, 1918.
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