Walter Eric Von Schramm

Born 16 Jul 1908 - Died 24 Apr 1980

Service number: 22239 AWMM
Also known as: Wally AWMM
Armed force / branch: Army AWMM
Last rank: WW2 Captain/Military AWMM 21 (Auckland) Infantry Battalion AWMM
Jayforce Captain/Military AWMM British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) Japan AWMM
War: World War II, 1939-1945 AWMM
Jayforce, 1945-1948 AWMM

Walter Eric Von Schramm — Portrait of Captain W.E. von Schramm MiD, ED. Past president of the 21 Battalion Association. Courtesy 21 Battalion Association. Auckland War Memorial Museum. All Rights Reserved

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Biographical information

Walter Eric von Schramm was the son of Albert Paul von Schramm and Laura von Schramm nee Boswell who lived in Lincoln Road, Henderson, Auckland. Wally had a Family Tree chart, which traced the family back to lands formerly owned by the von Schramms in Europe.

Walter was married to Eva Roberts on 10 January 1940. He later remarried Beate Anna Gertrude in 1950.

Wally told many stories about his years in the Army and one of them which he told with a laugh concerned a visit of the King of Greece to a New Zealand War Cemetery. When the King arrived a senior officer said "Stand aside Schramm, I will show the King around".

In his sixties, Wally could still quote the measurements and layout of a war cemetery, and said that even though he had buried so many New Zealand boys, after the war he found it difficult if he came across a motor accident.

After the war Wally worked for the Auckland Transport Board, at the Epsom Tram Depot, where over the years he kept notes on each tram he worked on, and these note books were given to Motat during the 1960s. After the tram depot he worked for Chairs and Frames, and then in 1966 for C.L. Stevenson Ltd, 70 Boston Road, Mt Eden. Stevensons were wholesale toy merchants and if ever new shelving was needed Wally was the man for the job. After the company was sold at the end of 1967 Wally stayed on with the new owners for a short time, then went to work for a lawnmower repair shop.

Each ANZAC Day at the 11.00am service at the Cenotaph outside the Auckland War Memorial Museum, Wally placed the wreath on behalf of 21 Battalion Association. He carried on doing this even when a problem with his knee was clearly obvious as he walked.

Wally died 21 April 1980 aged 71 years, and a funeral service was held in St James Presbyterian Church, Beresford Street, Auckland. His ashes were interred at Waikaraka Cemetery, Military Memorial, Ashes Lawn Area, Row C, Plot 18.

During the years spent at C.L. Stevenson Ltd., the carrier for the company was 258693. AWMM

Sources

External links: Nickless, Matthew. Leave No One Behind: Walter von Schramm and the Graves Registration Unit. Auckland War Memorial Museum - Tāmaki Paenga Hira. First published: 1 May 2025.
https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/features/wally-gru
Further Reference
J Force Wikipedia Page
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J_Force
Further Reference
Romano, G. (2021, March 4). Jayforce: 75 years on. Auckland War Memorial Museum – Tāmaki Paenga Hira.
https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/features/jayforce
Further Reference
Seagar Thomas, Mike & von Schramm, Walter (24 April 2024). "Wally's War: The WW2 North African Campaign Diaries of Walter von Schramm of the NZ Graves Registration & Enquiries Unit." This volume presents the wartime diaries of Walter (Wally) von Schramm, the Officer in Command of one such unit, the New Zealand Graves Registration and Enquiries Unit (NZGREU), during and immediately after the war's North African campaign. The diaries run from January 1941 to July 1943 and cover his journey from the UK to Egypt, his initial service in Egypt with a training battalion based at Maadi Camp outside Cairo, his service in Libya and Egypt with the NZGREU, and his return to New Zealand.
https://zenodo.org/records/11059788
Further Reference
Dawson, W. (1961). 18 Battalion and Armoured Regiment. Wellington, Dept. of Internal Affairs, War History Branch. Digital copy
https://ndhadeliver.natlib.govt.nz/webarchive/20210104000423/http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2-18Ba.html
Further Reference
References: Cody, J. F., & New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs War History Branch. (1953). 21 Battalion. Wellington, N.Z. : War History Branch, Dept. of Internal Affairs.
Dawson, W. (1961). 18 Battalion and Armoured Regiment. Wellington, N.Z.: Department of Internal Affairs, War History Branch.
WW2 2: WW2 191
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.
WW2 16: WW2 137
Veterans' club : the comradeship and memories of Auckland's 21st infantry battalion. Auckland War Memorial Museum : Auckland. Accompanies exhibition held in the Pictorial Gallery, second floor, Auckland War Memorial Museum, 24 March-21 May 2006.
21 New Zealand Infantry Battalion Association Inc. Records, 1955 - 2005. Auckland War Memorial Museum. MS-2008-42.
Loughnan, R. (1963). Divisional Cavalry. Wellington, N.Z.: Department of Internal Affairs, War History Branch.
Information kindly provided by family
Brocklebank, L.W. (1997). Jayforce : New Zealand and the military occupation of Japan, 1945-48. Auckland, N.Z.: Oxford University Press.
Parr, A. (2012). The occupiers : New Zealand veterans remember post-war Japan. Auckland, N.Z. : Penguin.
McClymont, W. (1959). To Greece. Wellington, N.Z.: Department Internal Affairs, War History Branch.
This record was part of “A Flight to Remember”, an Anzac Day 2026 commemorative partnership between Online Cenotaph and Air New Zealand, where service stories were shared onboard a dawn flight from Auckland to Sydney.

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Walter Eric Von Schramm