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William Roland Ahier - War diary

documentary heritage
  • Description

    Diary (13 cm) of 10284 Private William Roland Ahier, 16th Company, 2nd Battalion, Auckland Infantry Regiment, 1NZEF, covering a period from 1 January 1917 to 5 May 1917 while on active service in France and Belgium during World War I.

    Diary contains detailed daily entries covering the following observations of military life at the front: entertainment, sport, personal hygiene, parasites, vermin, route marches, drill, trench warfare, equipment, food and alcohol, accommodation, bedding, weather conditions, correspondence, weaponry, enemy bombardments, YMCA, guard duty, illness, medical treatments and aerial combat. Forty-nine servicemen with whom Ahier served are also mentioned. (64 leaves) [FRAGILE]

  • Other Id

    3532 (Presto content ID)

    MS-2004-76 (Reference Number)

    62501 (DBTextworks system ID)

    2004/76 (Registration number)

  • Department

    Manuscripts

Images and documents

Documents

Catalogue

  • Object Type

    manuscript

  • Name/Title
    William Roland Ahier - War diary
  • Primary Maker

     William Ahier

  • Date
    1917
  • Physical Description

    1 folder (1 item)

  • Level of Current Record
    Single Item
  • Related Object Notes
    Cenotaph database record for [http://muse.aucklandmuseum.com/databases/cenotaph/RecordDetail.aspx?OriginalID=77 William Roland Ahier]
  • Provenance Details
    Provenance: Diary was found in the wall of an old Mt Albert house by John Trautvetter (son-in-law of the donor), of Riverhead, Auckland.
  • Subject Notes
    William Roland Ahier was born in 1894 at Te Awamutu, New Zealand. He left with the 12th Reinforcements in May 1916 and later served as a sniper attached to the Auckland Infantry Regiment during the Western European campaign in World War I. He was killed in action at Neuve-Eglise on 5 May 1917. The last entry made in his diary was by Bert Clinch [10315 Herbert Clinch?] It reads as follows: "Dick was killed about 9 o'clock at night at Neuve Eglise. Bert Clinch 5/5/17".
  • Credit Line
    Donated by Mr D.S. [Donald Stephen] Fletcher in 2003.
  • Last Update
    07 Dec 2023
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