William John Lyon

Forenames

William John AWMM

Surname

Lyon AWMM

Also known as

Jack AWMM

Service number

2574 AWMM

Gender

Male AWMM

Religion

Church of England, Christian AWMM

Birth

15 Feb 1898 AWMM

Address before enlistment

Pre Sep 1939 AWMM Eversleigh Rd, Takapuna, Auckland, New Zealand AWMM

Next of kin

Alice Elizabeth Lyon (wife), Eversleigh Rd, Takapuna, Auckland, New Zealand AWMM

Relationship status

Unknown AWMM Married AWMM
Married, 2 children AWMM

War

• World War I, 1914-1918 AWMM
• World War II, 1939-1945 AWMM

Campaign

• Greece AWMM
• 1941 AWMM Crete AWMM
• 1914-1916 AWMM Egypt AWMM

Armed force / branch

Army AWMM

Service number

2574 AWMM

Medals and Awards

• British War Medal (1914-1920) AWMM
• Victory Medal AWMM
• 1939-1945 Star AWMM
• Africa Star AWMM
• Defence Medal AWMM
• War Medal 1939-1945 with oak leaf AWMM
• New Zealand War Service Medal AWMM

Enlistment

WW2 Sep 1939 AWMM
Age  41 AWMM
Member of Parliament/Civilian AWMM

Embarkation details

• WW1 Vessel was Unknown Ship AWMM Captain/Military AWMM Royal Sussex Regiment AWMM British Expeditionary Force AWMM
• WW2 Vessel was Orion AWMM 18 Infantry Battalion AWMM
  2nd Embarkation AWMM

Medical notes

• Height, Unknown Period AWMM
  5 feet 10 inches AWMM
• Other, Unknown Period AWMM
  Varicose veins AWMM
• Killed in Action, Cause of Death AWMM

Last rank

WW2 Captain/Military AWMM
18 Infantry Battalion AWMM

Son of William John Lyon and Ann Lyon (nee Yeates)

Husband of Alice (Alison) Elizabeth Lyon

Served in WW 1 with the Royal Sussex Regiment, aged 17 years. Other details of this service are not known

He was the Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for Waitemata Electorate 1935 - 1941.

Captain Lyon was the first New Zealand Member of Parliament to be killed in World War 2.

Remembered on the Takapuna War Memorial, The Strand, Takapuna. AWMM

Death

26 May 1941 AWMM
Age  43 AWMM

Cause of death

Killed in Action AWMM

Obituary

Death notice: New Zealand Herald, (June?), 1941 AWMM

Memorial name

• Athens Memorial, Phaleron War Cemetery, Athens, Greece AWMM
• Roll of Honour, New Zealand Parliament, first-floor main foyer, Wellington, New Zealand AWMM
• Lyon Memorial Hall, Anzac Street, Takapuna, Auckland, New Zealand AWMM
• Takapuna War Memorial, The Strand, Takapuna, Auckland, New Zealand AWMM
• Takapuna War Memorial, (ex RSA Roll, on a boulder), The Strand, Takapuna, Auckland, New Zealand AWMM
• Memorial Drive, 1939-1945, Devonport Memorial Drive, Auckland AWMM
• Memorial Drive, Lake Road, Devonport, Auckland AWMM
• Auckland War Memorial Museum, World War 2 Hall of Memories AWMM

Related objects

External links

• Dawson, W. (1961). 18 Battalion and Armoured Regiment. Wellington, Dept. of Internal Affairs, War History Branch. Digital copy
  http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2-18Ba.html
  Sources Used
• McClymont, W. (1959). To Greece. Wellington, N.Z.: War History Branch, Dept. of Internal Affairs. Digital copy
  http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2Gree.html
  Sources Used
• New Zealand Electronic Text Collection topic page
  http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/name-001037.html
  Further Reference
• New Zealand Parliament. Parliamentarians in two World Wars
  http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/Features/c/4/d/00NZPHomeNews210420101-Parliamentarians-in-two-world-wars.htm
  Further Reference
• Ministry for Culture and Heritage, New Zealand History online. Takapuna War Memorial.
  https://nzhistory.govt.nz/memorial/takapuna-war-memorial
  Further Reference
• Commonwealth War Graves Commission record
  https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2629009
  Sources Used
• Wikidata Entity
  http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q8013643
  Further Reference

References

• Dawson, W. (1961). 18 Battalion and Armoured Regiment. Wellington, N.Z.: Department of Internal Affairs, War History Branch.
• Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force. (1941). Nominal Roll Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force No. 1 (Embarkations to 31st March, 1940). Wellington, N.Z.: Govt. Printer.
  WW2 1: WW2 107
• New Zealand. Parliament. Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Wellington, N.Z.: Government Printing Office.
  Third Session 1941, 10 June to 13 June, pp 272-280
• The New Zealand Herald
  Death notice:(June?), 1941
• Information kindly provided by family
• Harper, G., Clements, C., & Johns., R. (2019). For King and Other Countries: The New Zealanders Who Fought in Other Services in the First World War. Auckland, New Zealand: Massey University Press.
• Auckland Museum. Roll of Honour, Auckland Province, 1939 - 1945. Auckland War Memorial Museum Library. MS 93/139.
• McClymont, W. (1959). To Greece. Wellington, N.Z.: Department Internal Affairs, War History Branch.
• Davin, D. (1953). Crete. Wellington, N.Z.: Department of Internal Affairs, War History Branch.