Date of birth: 01/06/1893

Place of birth: Rarotonga, Cook Islands, New Zealand

Profession: Gardener

Country: New Zealand

Force: New Zealand Expeditionary Force

Rank: Private

Service number: 16/1007

Enlistment date: 01/07/1915

Units:  —  New Zealand Maori (Pioneer) Bn.  (Last known unit)

Date of death: 07/10/1917

Place of death: Spree Farm, Langemark, Belgium

Cause of death: Killed in action (K.I.A.)

Age: 24

British War Medal Medal

Victory Medal Medal

Private Kiro Luke Adam was part of the New Zealand Pioneer Battalion under direct command of divisional headquarters. The New Zealand Division took part in the Battle of Broodseinde on 4 October 1917. After terrain had been won, the New Zealand Pioneer Battalion was tasked with consolidating these gains by constructing navigable roads to the new front and repairing damaged roads. This task was difficult because the rain turned the landscape into a quagmire in the first days after the battle. The roads were also targets for German artillery fire, as destroying these could cripple the supply lines. Private Kiro Luke Adam was killed on 7 October 1917. He was most likely killed by shell fire while working on the road between Spree Farm and Kansas Cross. He was first buried at C.18.d.9.5. right of the road (South East of Sint-Juliaan). Today his grave is located at New Irish Farm Cemetery. This Cemetery was constructed by concentrating other cemeteries in the region. Private Kiro Luke Adam is the only Cook Islander buried in Belgium.

Auckland War Memorial Museum http://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph Sources used

Chris McCarthy, Passchendaele : The Day-by-Day account, 2018, 113-117. Sources used

CWGC https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/451902/adam,-kiro-luke/ Sources used

James Cowan, The Maoris in the Great War : a history of the New Zealand native contingent and pioneer battalion : Gallipoli 1915, France and Flanders 1916-1918, 1926, 124-125 Sources used

The Long, Long Trail https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/ Sources used