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Cenotaph record

Herbert Gadd

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Portrait, Auckland Weekly News 1918 - No known copyright restrictions

Portrait, Auckland Weekly News 1918 - No known copyright restrictions

Identity

About

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  • Title
  • Forenames
    Herbert AWMM
  • Surname
    Gadd AWMM
  • Ingoa
  • Also known as
    Bert Public - David - Other relative - 8 October 2018 - Family papers
  • Service number
    WWI 31988 AWMM
  • Gender
    Male AWMM
  • Iwi
  • Hapū
  • Waka
  • Rohe
  • Religion
    Church of England, Christian AWMM

Civilian life

About birth

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  • Birth
    4 June 1896 AWMM United Kingdom, Europe AWMM
  • Date of birth
  • Place of birth
  • Birth notes
  • Address before enlistment
  • Post war occupation
  • Next of kin on embarkation
    Mrs A. Gadd (mother), Pokeno, New Zealand AWMM
  • Relationship status

Service

Wars and conflicts

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  • War
    World War I, 1914-1918 AWMM
  • Campaign
  • Armed force / branch
    Army AWMM
  • Service number
    WWI 31988 AWMM
  • Military service
  • Promotions/ Postings/ Transfers

Military decorations

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  • Medals and Awards

Training and Enlistment

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  • Military training
  • Branch Trade Proficiency
  • Enlistment
    WW1 Unknown AWMM Timber worker/Civilian AWMM
  • Occupation before enlistment
  • Age on enlistment

Embarkations

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  • Embarkation details
    • WW1 15 Nov 1916-30 January 1917 AWMM from Wellington, New Zealand AWMM to Plymouth, Devon AWMM

      HMNZT 68 AWMM Vessel was Maunganui AWMM Rifleman AWMM 13th Reinforcements, 1st Battalion, E Company AWMM New Zealand Rifle Brigade AWMM
    • The date of embarkation and ship is correct, but this was actually the 19th Reinforcements, the AWMM details are wrong. And Bert was with the Auckland Infantry, 1st Brigade, he was not in the Rifle Brigade Public - David - Other relative - 12 October 2018 - Source letters from Bert and military records.
    • The date of embarkation and ship is correct, but this was actually the 19th Reinforcements, the AWMM details are wrong. And Bert was with the Auckland Infantry, 1st Brigade, he was not in the Rifle Brigade Public - David - Other relative - 12 October 2018 - Source letters from Bert and military records.

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

Biographical information

Biographical information

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    • Herbert Gadd was the son of Herbert and Annie Gadd, of Te Aroha Street, Claudelands, Hamilton, New Zealand. Native of Blackheath, Birmingham, England. AWMM
    • Annie and Herbert Gadd had 12 children, among them Herbert Gadd, known as Bert, their eldest son. Bert signed up as a volunteer to fight in World War I soon after turning 20 in 1916, keen to do his bit. The family were living in Pokeno in the north Waikato at the time. They only moved to Hamilton later after Bert was in France. He served with the Auckland Infantry on the Western Front in France and Belgium and endured the privations, the fatigue, the fear, and the boredom, of life in the trenches. He began filled with enthusiasm, but as experience weathered him, became more cynical. Throughout, he wrote letters back home, hiding the true grimness of the war from his mother and younger siblings, confiding more in his closest sisters and brother. He survived the infamous Fields of Flanders during 1917, only to be shot dead as the New Zealand Division fought in a desperate action to stop the last great German advance of the war in March 1918.
      The family is fortunate to have his war diaries, 61 letters and some postcards sent home. They also have letters from men who served with him and who wrote to the family to try to give some explanation of how Bert died. They have his dead man’s penny, campaign medal and photos.
      There is a website created dedicated to telling his story. You can find it here: https://bit.ly/2E3S1PH Public - David Gadd - Other relative - 14 November 2018 - Military personnel files and family papers.
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Death

About death

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  • Death
    27 March 1918 AWMM
    Age 21 AWMM
    Somme, Northern France AWMM
  • Date of death
  • Age at death
  • Place of death
  • Cause of death
    Killed in Action AWMM
  • Death notes
  • Cemetery
    Euston Road Cemetery, Colincamps, Somme, France AWMM Special Memorial. B. 14. AWMM
  • Cemetery name
  • Grave reference
  • Obituary
  • Memorial name
  • Memorial reference

Memorials

Memorial

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  • Memorial name
    • Hamilton Memorial Park, Memorial Drive, Hamilton East, 3216 AWMM
    • Oratia School First World War Memorial, Shaw Road, Oratia Auckland 0604 AWMM
    • Mercer First World War Memorial, corner of Roose Road and Riverbank Road, Mercer AWMM
    • Auckland War Memorial Museum, World War 1 Hall of Memories AWMM
    • Mercer Cenotaph, Mercer. Public - David Gadd - Other relative - 14 November 2018 - Family papers
    • Pokeno Cenotaph, Pokeno. Public - David Gadd - Other relative - 14 November 2018 - Family papers
    • Oratia District School War Memorial Gate, 1 Shaw Rd, Oratia, Auckland Public - David Gadd - Other relative - 15 November 2018 - Family papers
    • Euston Road Cemetery, Colincamps, Somme, France Public - David Gadd - Other relative - 15 November 2018 - Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Roll of Honour

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Leave a note

Leave a tribute or memory of Herbert Gadd

Leave a note

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  • You may have not come home from the Western Front but you are not forgotten at this special time of the year. Our thoughts are with you.
    Public - Ross - 23 April 2016
    Report 
  • You and Fred both served your country with distinction but unfortunately only one of you came home. Always remembered and much loved by your family your sacrifice will never be forgotten. A hero to this day.
    Public - Ross Steven - 22 April 2015
    Report 

Sources

Sources

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  • External links
  • References
    • New Zealand Army Expeditionary Force. (1917). Nominal Rolls of New Zealand Expeditionary Force Volume II. Wellington, N.Z.: Govt. Printer. AWMM
      45: 24 AWMM
    • Alexander Turnbull Library Micro MS 582; Diary 1917 AWMM
    • Boyack, N. (1989). Behind the lines : the lives of New Zealand soldiers in the First World War. Wellington, N.Z.: Allen & Unwin/Port Nicholson Press. AWMM
    • Beattie, P.J. & Pomeroy, M. (2013-2020). Onward : portraits of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (vols 1-5). Auckland, New Zealand: Fair Dinkum Publications AWMM
      Vol. 5: Includes portrait AWMM
    • Roll of Honour, Auckland Province (digital copy), 1914 - 1919. Auckland War Memorial Museum Library. MS-2016-2. AWMM

Contributors

Command item
Command item
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DateFirst namesLocationRelationshipContact
14 April 2019GlennWellingtonResearcher
15 November 2018David GaddAucklandOther relative
14 November 2018DavidAucklandOther relative
23 April 2016RossNew ZealandOther
22 April 2015Ross StevenNew ZealandOther

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