COMPLETED WITH THANKS Did he die in WW2?

[ajf25]

Would it be normal practice for a war death to have a BDM index entry?

Thomas Gray Ranger, b. 1906 NZ died aged 37, 1942 ref 1942/25763

I don't know if he served during WW2 or whether it was a civilian death.

Being new to NZ research, I can't find any online databases on those who served in the military.  Am I just not looking hard enough?  I am aware that digitised service records don't seem to be available to the online public.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Alison 

[spades]

Hi ajf25,

I think the answer to your first question is no, but I'm not sure.

If you go to the NZ Resources page http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,493443.0.html you will see a link to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Have a look for him there for starters.

Spades

[Beg Clonrode...]

Hello...he's not in CWGC which is promising

http://www.cwgc.org/debt_of_honour.asp?menuid=14

The Burial Locator CD lists him as buried at Warkworth Anglican cemetery. If no-one else offers I may be able to look up his memorial inscription later in the week.

Archives NZ mentions him as well.
http://archway.archives.govt.nz/

Regards
Beg

Ooops...sorry Spades :-(

[johnbarr]

No sign of him on Cenotaph database either

http://muse.aucklandmuseum.com/databases/cenotaph/locations.aspx

John B

[Thamesite2017]

199015 Ranger, Thomas Gray, Labourer, care of Post -office, Leigh.
this was a ballot OCT 2 1940 that was in NZ Gazette
called up for service in territorials
so may not have gone to war

would pay to email army site, they are very helpful.

Bye
Althea

[ajf25]

The Burial Locator CD lists him as buried at Warkworth Anglican cemetery. If no-one else offers I may be able to look up his memorial inscription later in the week.

Regards
Beg

Thanks Beg, that would be great, but please only at your convenience.  The Auckland Council website has an online cemetery database, including for Warkworth, but I'm not bringing up any results.

Thanks also to Spades, John B and Althea for your help.

Alison 

[Janette]

Hi Alison,

He is in the Anglican Church Cemetery,not the public cemetery

Cheers Janette

[Janette]

Hi Alison,

There is a divorce for him at Auckland Archives

http://archway.archives.govt.nz/ViewFullItem.do?code=19134946

I can look at that for you some time this week if you would like 

Cheers Janette

[Beg Clonrode...]

Would it be normal practice for a war death to have a BDM index entry?

Hello Alison,

Out of curiosity, and in response to your initial question, I went to Papers Past (old NZ newspapers website) and chose a few random issues of the Evening Post from the 1939-45 period.

Looking through the Roll of Honour I made a note of a few of the names of our deceased servicemen. I entered these names into the NZ BDM Historical website and, with the help of the "search from" and "search to" boxes, every single serviceman's death came back as "Died on 31st Dec 1945" and "No record of birth date or of age at death".

I then entered a few common surnames (Smith, Jones, Wilson, Brown) as dying on 31 Dec 1945 and got several hundred hits, all listed as having no record of birth date or age at death.

I've no proof but I think this is how the BDM Historical website lists our servicemen who died in WW2. For what reason, I don't know. And I wouldn't be surprised if someone very quickly disproves me.

The BDM Historical website lists Thomas Gray RANGER as having died on the 4th of July 1942 aged 37 so I'm guessing he wasn't killed on active duty. More than happy to be proven wrong :-)


Regards
Beg

PS Will try and get the M/I from the cemetery microfiche later in the week