George William Ladd Thomson worked as a dental mechanic in Timaru before enlisting on the outbreak of WW1. He left New Zealand with the Main Body on flagship Maunganui on 3 October 1914. Following a training period in Egypt he served on Gallipoli with the Mounted Rifles and was based there until evacuation. Back in Egypt he joined the newly formed Dental Corps of Canterbury Mounted Rifles and subsequently embarked for France with No 3 NZ Field Ambulance on 6 April 1916. In March 1917 he was drafted to Queen’s Hospital, England as a technician to plastic surgery pioneer Dr Pickerill. The plastic patients and unit Returned to New Zealand in March 1919 and established themselves as a special unit at Dunedin Hospital. On his discharge on 14 October 1919 George Thomson qualified at the Otago Dental School and took up practise in Remuera where he remained for 38 years until his retirement.