William Louis McKenzie
Died 4 Oct 1917
- Service number
- WWI 44619 AWMM
- Also known as
- —
- Armed force / branch
- Army AWMM
- Last rank
- WW1 Private AWMM Wellington Infantry Regiment AWMM
- War
- World War I, 1914-1918 AWMM
About
- Title
- —
- Forenames
- William Louis AWMM
- Surname
- McKenzie AWMM
- Ingoa
- —
- Also known as
- —
- Service number
- WWI 44619 AWMM
- Gender
- Male AWMM
- Iwi / Hapū / Waka / Rohe
- —
- Religion
- —
Images
Documents
About birth
- Birth
- —
- 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
- S. McKenzie (father), Dunsandel, Canterbury, New Zealand AWMM
- Relationship status
- —
Wars and conflicts
- War
- World War I, 1914-1918 AWMM
- Campaign
- 1917 AWMM Passchendaele AWMM
- Armed force / branch
- Army AWMM
- Service number
- WWI 44619 AWMM
- Military service
- —
- Promotions/ Postings/ Transfers
- —
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 Railway Guard/Civilian AWMM
- Age on enlistment
- —
- Occupation before enlistment
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Embarkations
- Embarkation details
- WW1 05 Apr 1917-10 Jun 1917 AWMM
HMNZT 81 AWMM Vessel was Devon AWMM Private AWMM 24th Reinforcements, Wellington Infantry Regiment, B 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
Last known rank
- Last rank
- WW1 Private AWMM
Wellington Infantry Regiment AWMM - Last rank
- —
Biographical information
- Second son of Jessie McKenzie and Samuel McKenzie, of Killinchy, Canterbury
Holder of the certificate of the St John Ambulance Society
Reported wounded on 4 October 1917 during the fighting at Passchendaele and then later posted as missing before being declared killed in action AWMM - Private William Louis – 44619
William was born 1st May 1885 at Dunsandel, second son Samuel and Janet (known as Jessie) McKenzie. He was educated at the local school. At age of 19 years he joined the railway service and served mainly at Christchurch but finally at Wellington as a guard. He also studied for and passed the St. John Ambulance Society certicate. He had previous military experience with the “N” Battery at Lyttleton. William was described as “a young man of a fine, generous, sympathetic nature, highly respected by all who knew him as a friend, and esteemed by all his fellow workers in the railway service”. He was 5ft 8 ¾ in tall but his complexion and eye colour were not recorded.
William enlisted on16th November 1916 and was assigned to the 25th Reinforcementsof the Wellington Infantry Regiment, for which he had volunteered, but was then transferred to the 24th. He embarked from Wellington on 5th April 1917 on board the Devon via Capetown and arrived in Devonport on 10th June. Whilst on board he was admitted to hospital on 20th May with influenza being discharged 6 days later. He arrived in England 11 June 1917 and marched into Sling Camp. After a short leave in Glasgow he crossed to France on 6th July and into camp at Etaples on 9th. He joined the Battalion and was posted to 7th Company on 24th. On October 4th he was reported wounded and later was posted as missing, but finally was declared by a Court of Enquiry on 25th November to have been killed in action during the fighting at Passchendaele. His section commander at the time reported that he was with William when he was wounded in the forehead and that William spoke to him and he said “come over here I am dying” but that was the last he saw of him. His body was not found or identified so his name is inscribed on the Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing, Ypres. In New Zealand William is remembered on the Dunsandel War Memorial.Public - Lynda - Researcher - 22 January 2015 - Military Personal File, Papers Past used to compile this entry on the Soldiers of Selwyn Kete
- Second son of Jessie McKenzie and Samuel McKenzie, of Killinchy, Canterbury
About death
- Death
- 4 Oct 1917 AWMM
Age 32 AWMM - Date of death
- —
- Age at death
- —
- Place of death
- —
- Cause of death
- Killed in Action AWMM
- Death notes
- —
- Cemetery
- —
- Cemetery name
- —
- Grave reference
- —
- Obituary
- Obituary: The Star, 27 May 1918 AWMM
- Memorial name
- —
- Memorial reference
- —
Memorial
- Memorial name
- Tyne Cot Memorial, Tyne Cot Cemetery, Zonnebeke, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium AWMM
- Railways Roll of Honour board. Wellington Railway Station, Pipitea, Wellington 6011. AWMM
Related objects
Sources
- External links
- Military personnel file
https://collections.archives.govt.nz/web/arena/search/#/entity/aims-archive/R10925579
Further Reference - A Street Near You record
https://astreetnearyou.org/person/847872/-
Further Reference - Commonwealth War Graves Commission Casualty record
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/847872
Further Reference - New Zealand War Graves Trust
https://www.nzwargraves.org.nz/
Further Reference
- Military personnel file
- References
- Macdonald, L. (1978). Passchendaele : the story of the third Battle of Ypres 1917. London : Penguin Books.
- Harper, G. (2000). Massacre at Passchendaele : the New Zealand story. Auckland, N.Z.: HarperCollins.
- Christchurch Star
- Information kindly provided by family
- New Zealand Army Expeditionary Force. (1918). Nominal Rolls of New Zealand Expeditionary Force Volume III. Wellington, N.Z.: Govt. Printer.
59: 9 - Christchurch Star
Obituary: The Star, 27 May 1918 - HMNZT 81 - Bulldogs' bark and Devon lyre : being the unofficial organ of the Right Wing, 24th Reinforcement. N.Z.E.F. Morgan, R.C. (Robert Carhampton), editor. Kiely, R.D. (Robert Dale), editor. -- Capetown : Printed by the Cape Times : 1917
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