Thomas Mackenzie was the son of Robert and Helen Mackenzie; husband of Kathleen Mackenzie.

Husband of Mrs K. MacKenzie of 1 Kensington Buildings, Whangarei. Son of Mr and Mrs Robert MacKenzie, Thornhill Avenue, Blantyre, Scotland, he came to New Zealand 10 years ago. For ten years he worked in the Hikurangi mines before joining the bridge building staff of the Public Works Department. A few months before the outbreak of war he resumed mining. Enlisting the day prior to hostilities he was classed temporarily unfit and appealed for on three occasions by the mining company. However, he finally achieved his desire to join the armed forces and left with an early reinforcement, being in the thick of the last Libyan campaign.

A popular member of the Whangarei and County Pipe Band, Private MacKenzie took his pipes overseas with him and letters from soldiers testify in what high appreciation his qualities as a piper and a comrade were held. A year before leaving New Zealand he married Miss Kathleen Buchanan of Hikurangi. AWMM