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Cenotaph record

Graham Richard Grigg

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Gravestone of Staff Sergeant Graham Richard (Dick) Grigg, Awa Tapu Cemetery, Paraparaumu, Kapiti Coast.

Gravestone of Staff Sergeant Graham Richard (Dick) Grigg, Awa Tapu Cemetery, Paraparaumu, Kapiti Coa …

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Identity

About

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  • Title
  • Forenames
    Graham Richard AWMM
  • Surname
    Grigg AWMM
  • Ingoa
  • Also known as
    Dick AWMM
  • Service number
    • Malaya 645140 AWMM
    • Vietnam 645140 AWMM
  • Gender
    Male AWMM
  • Iwi / Hapū / Waka / Rohe
  • Religion
    Catholic, Christian AWMM

Civilian life

About birth

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  • Birth
    5 October 1933 AWMM Napier, Hawkes Bay AWMM
  • Date of birth
  • Place of birth
  • Birth notes
  • Address before enlistment
    Pre 1 August 1957 AWMM 114 Wright Street, Wellington, New Zealand AWMM
  • Post war occupation
  • Next of kin on embarkation
    Mrs N.E. Grigg (mother), Waikanae, New Zealand AWMM
  • Relationship status

Service

Wars and conflicts

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Military decorations

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Training and Enlistment

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  • Military training
  • Branch Trade Proficiency
  • Enlistment
    1 August 1957 AWMM
    Age 23 AWMM
    Clerk AWMM
  • Occupation before enlistment
  • Age on enlistment

Embarkations

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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
    Killed in Action, Cause of Death AWMM

Last known rank

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Biographical information

Biographical information

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  • According to Colin Whyte, he was due to go to Vietnam instead of Dick Grigg, but as Colin was to be married in a couple of months, Dick stood in for him on the posting. It was during this posting that Dick was killed.

    Death was caused by a cerebral haemorrage caused by high explosive blast after a terrorist bomb exploded below his room in the Metropole Hotel Saigon on 4 December 1965.At the time of his death, he was pay clerk Headquarters NZ 'V' Force. A brief Memorial Service was held at Saigon on 9 December 1965 and his body was flown to Malaysia on 11 December. The funeral service was held at Terendak with full Military Honours on 14 December. Mass was celebrated at the Church of Corpus Christi with approximately 180 people attending. When the graveside service was finished volleys were fired and wreaths laid. A telegram of condolence was despatched to the next of kin. (from letter to Minister of Defence from R.V.J. Johnson (13.1.66)

    A memorial Cross was issued to the family on 8 July 1966.

    Formerly buried at Terendak Camp, Malacca, Malaysia. Returned to New Zealand as part of the Te Auraki Repatriation Project.

    The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) began repatriating the remains of personnel buried in Malaysia during 2018.

    This is part of project Te Auraki (The Return), under which the NZDF is bringing home personnel and dependants buried overseas after 1 January, 1955, following a change in Government policy.

    Killed in action, 4 December 1965 – bomb explosion at the Caravelle Hotel in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). Also WIA in the same incident were 39788 LCpl JC Denham and 38518 LCpl GS Smart. Buried in Terendak Camp. AWMM
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Death

About death

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  • Death
    4 December 1965 AWMM
    Age 32 AWMM
    Saigon, Vietnam AWMM
  • Date of death
  • Age at death
  • Place of death
  • Cause of death
    Killed in Action AWMM
  • Death notes
  • Cemetery
    Awa Tapu Cemetery, Paraparaumu, Kapiti Coast, Wellington AWMM Plot 12, Servicemen's Burial Beam AWMM
  • Cemetery name
  • Grave reference
  • Obituary
    Death Notice (repatriation): Dominion Post, 25 August to 13 October 2018 AWMM
  • Memorial name
  • Memorial reference

Memorials

Memorial

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  • Memorial name

Roll of Honour

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Leave a tribute or memory of Graham Richard Grigg

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  • Staff Sergeant Grigg was my uncle whom I idolised. I was eight years old when I recall my tearful Mother, Alison Hatton nee Grigg, waking me in the morning and telling me her younger brother who she loved dearly had been killed in the war in Vietnam. Only months earlier his older brother Brian Grigg had died when his vehicle crashed probably near his home in Paraparaumu. I recall having a US issue forage cap he had given me which I lost when I was a teenager. I have a memory of driving along Crosses Rd coming back from Havelock North in Grandad Grigg's grey Morris 1000 with Uncle Graham driving and a song that went Karu Karu Karu Ka pei E awei playing on the radio. I knew he had served as a medic in the Malayan emergency and that he volunteered to go to Vietnam. I have no doubt something died inside my mother that year and I thank God for her faith which kept her going.
    Public - Andrew John - Direct descendant - 15 April 2016
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Sources

Sources

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Contributors

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DateFirst namesLocationRelationshipContact
15 April 2016Andrew John Invercargill New ZealandDirect descendant

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