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envelope, addressed

human history
  • Other Name

    handwritten envelope sent from Bougainville (descriptive name)

    285658 2nd Lieutenant Bruce Ingham Dent MC, 1st Battalion Fiji Defence Force, New Zealand Infantry, WW2 (associated name)

  • Description

    handwritten envelope (no contents) sent from Bougainville by

    2nd Lieutenant Bruce Ingham Dent MC, Fiji Defence Force, New Zealand Infantry, 2NZEF (Pacific Section, 2NZEF) to his sister Beverley Ingham Wilding in Timaru, New Zealand.

    marked "ON ACTIVE SERVICE"

  • Place
  • Associated Place
  • Accession Number
    2014.68.12
  • Accession Date
    10 Sep 2014
  • Department
envelope

Images and documents

Images

Artefact

  • Credit Line
    Collection of Auckland Museum Tamaki Paenga Hira, 2014.68.12
    Gift of Beverley Ingham Wilding
  • Primary Maker

     Bruce Dent (Author)

  • Place
  • Date
    1943-1944
  • Associated Notes

    handwritten envelope (no contents) sent from Bougainville

    2nd Lieutenant Bruce Ingham Dent MC, Fiji Defence Force, New Zealand Infantry, Third Division, WW2

    2nd Lieutenant Dent MC joined the army in November 1941 and left for Fiji in December 1942 where he helped train the 4th Battalion of the Fiji Infantry Regiment. Nine months later he received his commission and joined the 1st Battalion Fijian Infantry Regiment which was serving in the Solomon Islands. On December 21, 1943 the Battalion was moved to Bougainville where it was engaged in jungle warfare.

    Dent was killed in action on 25 March 1944, and awarded the Military Cross posthumously for “outstanding leadership during the Ibu campaign,” Bougainville. He is buried in New Caledonia at the Bourail New Zealand Cemetery.

  • Associated Event
    WW2; 1939-1945
    Pacific Theatre of War
  • Associated Person
  • Associated Place
  • Associated Date
    1943-1944
  • Period
  • Media
  • Measurement Reading

    92mm

    164mm

  • Subject Category
  • Classification
  • Last Update
    15 May 2023
The development of the Auckland War Memorial Museum online collection is an ongoing process; updates, new images and records are added weekly. In some cases, records have yet to be confirmed by Museum staff, and there could be mistakes or omissions in the information provided.

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