John New Lands was the son of William and Katharine Newlands; husband of June Elwyn Newlands, of Green Island, Otago, New Zealands

Medical officer at Maadi Camp in 1941

Circumstances of death: Lt. Newlands embarked at Navplion ( now Nauplia), Greece on the troopship "Slamat" as part of the evacuation of Greece by the Allied Forces. The troopship was attacked by German planes and sunk on 27 April 1941.

The 11,636 ton Dutch passenger liner was taken over for service as a troop transport and while engaged in the evacuation of British and New Zealand troops from Greece, she was attacked for the second time by German aircraft of Luftwaffe JG-77 and sank with the loss of 193 men. Of the troops on board, around 700 were rescued by the destroyers HMS Diamond and HMS Wryneck, both of which were later bombed and sunk, drowning most of the survivors of the Slamat. There was one officer, 41 seamen and 8 soldiers saved from this triple disaster, leaving a death toll of 843 men. (Source : http://members.iinet.net.au/~gduncan/maritime-1.html#maritime_disasters_1941). 8 New Zealanders were aboard the "Slamat" on 27 April 1941 (Source: To Greece by W.G. McClymont, page 430.) AWMM