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Cenotaph record

Walter Douglas McConachie

  • Service number
    Korea 646041 AWMM
  • Also known as
    Doug AWMM
  • Armed force / branch
    Army AWMM
  • Last rank
  • War
    Korean War, 1950-1953 AWMM
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Portrait of Lance Bombardier Walter Douglas (Doug) McConachie, taken May 2012. Image kindly provided by Heather McConachie (July 2019). Image is subject to copyright restrcitions.

Portrait of Lance Bombardier Walter Douglas (Doug) McConachie, taken May 2012. Image kindly provided …

Identity

About

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  • Title
  • Forenames
    Walter Douglas AWMM
  • Surname
    McConachie AWMM
  • Ingoa
  • Also known as
    Doug AWMM
  • Service number
    Korea 646041 AWMM
  • Gender
    Male AWMM
  • Iwi / Hapū / Waka / Rohe
  • Religion

Civilian life

About birth

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  • Birth
  • Date of birth
  • Place of birth
  • Birth notes
  • Address before enlistment
  • Post war occupation
  • Next of kin on embarkation
  • Relationship status

Service

Wars and conflicts

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  • War
    Korean War, 1950-1953 AWMM
  • Campaign
  • Armed force / branch
    Army AWMM
  • Service number
    Korea 646041 AWMM
  • Military service
  • Promotions/ Postings/ Transfers

Training and Enlistment

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  • Military training
  • Branch Trade Proficiency
  • Enlistment
  • Occupation before enlistment
  • Age on enlistment

Prisoner of war

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  • Capture details
  • Days interned
  • Liberation date
  • Liberation Repatriation
  • POW liberation details
  • POW serial number

Medical history

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  • Medical notes

Last known rank

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  • Last rank

Biographical information

Biographical information

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    • Returned to New Zealand 24 November 1954. AWMM
    • Walter Douglas McConachie, known to most as Doug was born on the 3rd of May 1931 at Bulls, Manawatu. His father Walter (WW1 Regimental No. 69619, WW2 423374) was an immigrant from Argyll, Scotland and his mother Evelyn Burrowes was a South Island girl from Blenheim. They met in Sanson where Walter was working as a ploughman and Evelyn's parents had just moved to the district to open a store. They married and settled into farming life and raising their family.
      Doug attended Sanson School, where at the age of 12 his school report noted that he was 'A remarkably fine pupil in every way. A fine lad. Conduct excellent'. When he finished primary school, he then caught the bus to Palmerston North to attend the Technical College there.
      He did his Army CMT training, where he was an intake for the 8th armoured regiment.
      In 1946 his father died and he, his mother and siblings moved to Palmerston North to live.
      At the age of 15 he left school to work as a butcher and then as a tinsmith for Carlyhe Manufacturing Co, before volunteering with the NZ Army territorial Service in 1952.
      His enlistment training started in 1953 and his training sheet noted that his procedural work and knowledge of shot was well on. Doug was sent to Korea with the 16 Field Regiment and he spent a year as part of the K force being promoted from Gunner to Lance Bombardier while he was there.
      When his service ended he returned to Palmerston North and got a job with the Ministry of Works in January 1955 and kept it for 40 years. He was a top dozer driver and held nearly every class on his driver’s license.
      If you are driving over the railway deviation through Milson, Palmerston North, he worked on that. He was also responsible for bulldozing up the overpasses on Tremain Ave and Milson Line. He worked on the development of the Pacific College site, Palmerston North, including building the little lake there and he also worked on the Massey lake as well. When he moved to Highway maintenance he spent a lot of time in the Manawatu Gorge clearing slips. Nearing the end of his career Doug mowed verges and was so efficient at it, that he was sent to Napier for a week to train the men there in the art of good mowing. When he finished at the Ministry of Works he was their longest serving employee.
      Like his father, Doug married a South Island girl Hazel Margaret Bayne in 1959 and they went on to have four children.
      Doug was an active member of the RSA for over 50 years and in 2008 he was chosen to be one of only two New Zealanders to return to Korea to form part of an international honour guard for the Commemorative Ceremony of Thanks and Remembrance for the United Nations Fallen. He travelled to Busan and formed several honour guards for the family members of the bereaved.
      In his latter years Doug and his wife did a lot of travelling around New Zealand as well as overseas to such places as America, Hawaii, Singapore, Malaysia, and Australia. When he was at home he was a keen gardener and had an extensive vegetable garden.
      In 2012 Doug was diagnosed with terminal cancer but he still managed to fulfil a promise he had made to his wife when they had wed, and with the help of his son he finally took her to Cape Reinga. Doug passed away on the 23rd September in the house he and his wife had built, surrounded by all his loved ones. Public - Heather - Direct descendant - 9 June 2019 - Family papers
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Death

About death

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  • Death
    23 September 2012 Chamberlain
    Age 81 AWMM
    Palmerston North, Manawatu-Wanganui Chamberlain
  • Date of death
  • Age at death
  • Place of death
  • Cause of death
  • Death notes
  • Cemetery
    Plot 99, Block 10, Area U, Kelvin Grove Cemetery, Palmerston North AWMM
  • Cemetery name
  • Grave reference
  • Obituary
  • Memorial name
  • Memorial reference

Memorials

Memorial

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  • Memorial name

Roll of Honour

Remember Walter Douglas McConachie by laying a poppy.

Leave a note

Leave a tribute or memory of Walter Douglas McConachie

Leave a note

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  • You are in our thoughts this ANZAC Day 2020. We were unable to attend an ANZAC Day service due to the corona virus. Instead we stood like many others outside, by our letterbox to remember you and all the others before you who fought for our freedom, many of whom made the ultimate sacrifice.

    We love you Dad.
    Heather and Alison
    Public - Alison - Child - 25 April 2020
    Report 

Sources

Sources

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  • External links
  • References
    • Chamberlain, H. (2013). The New Zealand Korea Roll : honouring those who served in the New Zealand Armed Forces in Korea, 1950-1957. Wellington, N.Z.: Author. AWMM
      p.269 AWMM
    • Information kindly provided by family AWMM
    • Nominal rolls - Nominal rolls embarkation K-force [Korea Nominal Roll], Archives New Zealand, Wellington, AAYS 8638 AD1/1433 (R22440250) AWMM

Contributors

Command item
Command item
Add new record Refresh
DateFirst namesLocationRelationshipContact
25 April 2020AlisonPalmerston NorthChild
09 June 2019HeatherPalmerston NorthDirect descendant
09 June 2019Heather DalePalmerston North, New ZealandChild

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