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Cenotaph record

Vera Hannah Bray

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  • Service number
    810127 AWMM
  • Also known as
    • Vera Hannah Thurston AWMM
    • Vera Hannah Thurston AWMM
  • Armed force / branch
    Army AWMM
  • Last rank
  • War
    World War II, 1939-1945 AWMM
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Identity

About

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  • Title
  • Forenames
    Vera Hannah AWMM
  • Surname
    Bray AWMM
  • Ingoa
  • Also known as
    • Vera Hannah Thurston AWMM
    • Vera Hannah Thurston AWMM
  • Service number
    810127 AWMM
  • Gender
    Female AWMM
  • Iwi / Hapū / Waka / Rohe
  • Religion

Civilian life

About birth

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  • Birth
    3 February 1917 AWMM Onehunga, Auckland AWMM
    Onehunga, Auckland, New Zealand AWMM
  • Date of birth
  • Place of birth
  • Birth notes
  • Address before enlistment
  • Post war occupation
  • Next of kin on embarkation
    Mr Len Bray (father), Auckland, New Zealand AWMM
  • Relationship status
    Unknown AWMM Single AWMM

Service

Wars and conflicts

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Military decorations

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Training and Enlistment

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  • Military training
    1940 WWII NZANS Roll
    Place of Nursing training and date of qualification / registration AWMM
  • Branch Trade Proficiency
  • Enlistment
    WW2 15 January 1943 AWMM Nurse AWMM
    AWMM
  • 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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  • Nurse Bray was the daughter of Leonard and Jane Reid Laing Bray (nee Sharp). She was educated at Onehunga Primary and Epsom Girls' Grammar.

    She finished nursing training in 1940 and was a Sister at Papakura Military Camp, Ward 7 from 15 January 1943, and later Wellington Public Hospital at the time of the Featherston riot. After this she went to 4 General Hospital in New Caledonia and at Papakura Camp. She was then a passenger in a Hospital ship Maunganui, but reverted to staff after an accident at sea in the Indian Ocean.

    3 General Hospital, Bari, Italy.

    She married Ernest Kenneth Thurston in St Peters Anglican Church, Onehunga on 27 November 1948 and they had three children: Paul Kenneth 28 November 1949, James Leonard 9 March 1951 and Ian William 5 June 1952. They farmed all their life at Taihape.

    A service was held at Blockhouse Bay and a memorial service was held in Taihape. AWMM
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Death

About death

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  • Death
    29 July 2006 AWMM
    Age 89 AWMM
    Blockhouse Bay, Auckland AWMM
  • Date of death
  • Age at death
  • Place of death
  • Cause of death
  • Death notes
  • Cemetery
  • Cemetery name
  • Grave reference
  • Obituary
    Death notice: New Zealand Herald, 31 July 2006

    Notice: New Zealand Herald, 2 August 2006 AWMM
  • Memorial name
  • Memorial reference

Memorials

Memorial

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  • Memorial name

Roll of Honour

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Sources

Sources

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  • External links
  • References
    • New Zealand Military Nursing - A History of the R.N.Z.N.C. Boer War to Present Day AWMM
    • The New Zealand Herald AWMM
    • The New Zealand Herald AWMM
      Death notice: New Zealand Herald, 31 July 2006 AWMM
    • The New Zealand Herald AWMM
      Notice: New Zealand Herald, 2 August 2006 AWMM
    • Service Women Project: Sponsorship to research this record was kindly provided by the Auckland Returned Services Association, Returned Servicewomen's Branch; Marjorie Traill, Dorothy Grant, Daphne Shaw and Margaret Woollett. AWMM
    • McNabb, S. (2015). 100 years New Zealand military nursing : New Zealand Army nursing service : Royal New Zealand Nursing Corps, 1915-2015. Hawke's Bay, N.Z.: Sherayl McNabb. AWMM
    • Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force. (1945). Nominal Roll Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force No. 12 (Embarkations from 1st July, 1943 to 31st December, 1943). Wellington, N.Z.: Govt. Printer. AWMM
      p.22 AWMM
    • Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force. (1945). Nominal Roll Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force No. 14 (Embarkations from 1st April, 1944 to 31st December, 1944). Wellington, N.Z.: Govt. Printer. AWMM
      p.13 AWMM
    • Information kindly provided by family AWMM
    • WAAC [Women's Auxiliary Army Corps] - Lists - Overseas Information [including Strength Returns and Embarkation Rolls] (1943 - 1945) - Archives New Zealand, Wellington, (R22502074) AWMM

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