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Cenotaph record

Leslie John Cooper

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Auckland War Memorial Museum, Hall of Memories. Korea, Malaya-Borneo (taken in April 1999). - This image may be subject to copyright

Auckland War Memorial Museum, Hall of Memories. Korea, Malaya-Borneo (taken in April 1999). - This i …

Identity

About

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  • Title
  • Forenames
    Leslie John AWMM
  • Surname
    Cooper AWMM
  • Ingoa
  • Also known as
  • Service number
    • Jayforce 654686 AWMM
    • Korea 203513 AWMM
  • Gender
    Male AWMM
  • Iwi
  • Hapū
  • Waka
  • Rohe
  • Religion

Civilian life

About birth

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  • Birth
    30 April 1926 AWMM Waihi, New Zealand AWMM
  • Date of birth
  • Place of birth
  • Birth notes
  • Address before enlistment
    • Korea Paeroa, New Zealand AWMM
    • Jayforce Auckland, New Zealand AWMM
  • Post war occupation
  • Next of kin on embarkation
    Jayforce Mr L.A. Cooper (father), Station Road, Paeroa, 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
    Jayforce Turner/Civilian 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
    Killed in Action, Cause of Death AWMM

Last known rank

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Biographical information

Biographical information

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  • Served with Jayforce 1946-47; Served with Kayforce 1950-51

    "A New Zealand gunner was killed instantly early yesterday morning when a Chinese mortar scored a direct hit on the slit trench in which he was sheltering. He was Gunner Leslie John Cooper, of Paeroa, who before his enlistment in K-Force worked in Auckland.

    Gunner Cooper was a member of a forward observation party accompanying soldiers of the King's Shropshire Light Infantry. He was lying in the slit trench at about 1 o'clock in the morning when a Chinese mortar, which was bombarding the infantry positions, scored a direct hit. It was the regiment's second fatal casualty since the opening of the autumn offensive." (NZ Herald, 16 October 1951, p. 8)

    "Gunner Leslie Cooper was serving in one of 161 Battery's OP parties with the Shropshires on Hill 227, when the Chinese attacked on 13 October after the heaviest bombardment yet endured by the brigade. Shortly after midnight, he was killed by a mortar bomb which landed in his slit trench." (McGibbon 1996, vol. 2, p. 220)

    Gunner Cooper's nephew, Mr Ross Nicol of Tauranga, received the New Zealand Operational Service Medal on his behalf from the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defence at a presentation at the Auckland War Memorial Museum on Thursday 27 November 2003

    Transport details are for Korea (March 2010) AWMM
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Death

About death

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  • Death
    13 October 1951 AWMM
    Age 25 AWMM
    Korea, Asia AWMM
  • Date of death
  • Age at death
  • Place of death
  • Cause of death
    Killed in Action AWMM
  • Death notes
  • Cemetery
    United Nations Cemetery, Pusan, Korea AWMM
  • Cemetery name
  • Grave reference
  • Obituary
  • Memorial name
  • Memorial reference

Memorials

Memorial

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  • Memorial name
    Auckland War Memorial Museum, Hall of Memories. Korea, Malaya-Borneo. AWMM

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Sources

Sources

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  • External links
  • References
    • K-Force nominal roll : embarked for Korea on 'Ormonde' on 10 December 1950 AWMM
    • Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force. (1950). Nominal Roll Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force No. 16 (Embarkations from 1st January, 1946 to 30th June, 1948). Wellington, N.Z.: Govt. Printer. AWMM
      WW2 16: WW2 27 AWMM
    • McGibbon, I.C. (1992-1996). New Zealand and the Korean War (Vols. 1-2). Auckland, N.Z.; Wellington, N.Z.: Oxford University Press in association with the Historical Branch, Dept. of Internal Affairs. AWMM
      McGibbon, I.C. (1992-1996). Volume II: Combat Operations, pp. 220, 371, 401. AWMM
    • Brief Notes on Recipients at NZOSM Presentation. Wellington, N.Z.: New Zealand Defence Force. AWMM
    • Hopkins, G. (2002). Tales from Korea : the Royal New Zealand Navy. Auckland, N.Z.: Reed. AWMM
    • Loughnan, R. (1963). Divisional Cavalry. Wellington, N.Z.: Department of Internal Affairs, War History Branch. AWMM
    • Brocklebank, L.W. (1997). Jayforce : New Zealand and the military occupation of Japan, 1945-48. Auckland, N.Z.: Oxford University Press. AWMM

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