Date de naissance: 05/01/1896

Lieu de naissance: Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand

Profession: Mouleur de fer

Pays: New Zealand

Force armée: New Zealand Expeditionary Force

Rang: Private

Numéro de service: 46810

Incorporation date: 05/01/1917

Incorporation nom de lieu: Invercargill, Southland, New Zealand

Unités:  —  Canterbury Regiment, 2nd Bn.  (Dernière unité connue)

Date de décès: 13/12/1917

Lieu de décès: Bois du Polygone, Zonnebeke, Belgique

Cause du décès: Killed in action (K.I.A.)

Âge: 21

British War Medal Médaille

Victory Medal Médaille

Private Robert Vesey served in the 2nd Canterbury Regiment, of the 2nd New Zealand Brigade. Robert was born in Christchurch in 1896. He was imprisoned on the 6th of August 1914. When enlisting in January 1917 he gives His Majesty’s Prison in Invercargill as his last address. Invercargill Prison was established in 1910 and served as a Borstal, a type of youth detention centre. By the time he enlisted, both his parents had already past. Robert joined his unit in the field in August that same year.

After the Third Battle of Ypres, the New Zealand Division was situated in the Polygon Wood area. They spent quite some time on wiring, repairing crumbling trenches and improving defences. The landscape was covered with waterlogged shell holes. The right of the New Zealand position was enfiladed from Polderhoek and a decision was made to capture the spur on which the ruins of Polderhoek Chateau and German pillboxes were situated.

After the unsuccessful attack on Polderhoek on 3 December, the various battalions took turns in the front lines and in reserve. At the time of Robert’s death, the 2nd Canterbury Regiment was in support, in bivouacs in Polygon Wood. According to the regimental history of the Otago Regiment, its positions were heavily shelled on December 12th and 13th.

Robert Vesey, still only 21, was killed on the 13th of December 1917. According to a statement in his service record, Robert was buried by Reverend Lush near the hamlet of Polderhoek (J.16.c.70.30.). In 1919 Vesey’s remains are reinterred in Polygon Wood Cemetery, where he still rests today.

"The history of the Canterbury Regiment N.Z.E.F. : 1914-1919", Ferguson D., Whitcombe and Tombs, 1921, page 218 - 223 Sources utilisées

Auckland Cenotaph https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C16139?n=46810&ordinal=2&from=%2Fwar-memorial%2Fonline-cenotaph%2Fsearch Sources utilisées

Byrne, A.E., Official History of the Otago Regiment, N.Z.E.F. in the Great War 1914-1918, Dunedin, Wilkie & Co, Ltd, p. 238-241. Sources utilisées

CWGC https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/480076/vesey,-robert/ Sources utilisées

NZEF-Project https://nzef.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=262036 Sources utilisées

Service Record https://www.archway.archives.govt.nz/ViewFullItem.do?code=22020664 Sources utilisées

The long long trail http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/ Sources utilisées