L/Cpl
William Whitehouse Blair

Informatie over geboorte

Geboortedatum:
27/06/1875
Geboorteplaats:
Taieri, Otago, Nieuw-Zeeland

Algemene Informatie

Beroep:
Magazijnier

Informatie legerdienst

Land:
Nieuw-Zeeland
Strijdmacht:
New Zealand Expeditionary Force
Rang:
Lance Corporal
Service nummer:
15865
Dienstneming datum:
06/04/1916
Dienstneming plaats:
Trentham, Wellington, Nieuw-Zeeland
Eenheden:
 —  New Zealand Rifle Brigade, 3rd Bn.  (Laatst gekende eenheid)

Informatie over overlijden

Datum van overlijden:
24/11/1917
Plaats van overlijden:
Reutel, Beselare, België
Doodsoorzaak:
Killed in action (K.I.A.)
Leeftijd:
42

Begraafplaats

Points of interest 3

#1 Geboorteplaats
#2 Dienstneming plaats
#3 Plaats van overlijden (bij benadering)

Mijn verhaal

William Whitehouse Blair was born in 1875 in Taieri, Otago, New Zealand. He was the son of Robert and Ann Blair. William worked as a storeman, before he enlisted in April 1916.

William served in the New Zealand Rifle Brigade, 3rd Battalion. He was appointed Lance Corporal in October 1917. After the Battle of Passchendaele, in the night of the 19th and 20th November 1917 the 2nd and 3rd Battalions relieved the 1st and 4th Battalions in the frontline at the hamlet of Reutel. The brigade’s headquarters were established in the old German tunnels beneath the Butte in Polygon Wood.

On the 20th of November headquarters were heavily shelled. German snipers were very troublesome and in the following days a sharpshooter battle ensued between the Germans and the New Zealanders. William Whitehouse Blair was killed on 24 November 1917. Two days before his Battalion was relieved from the line,. He was buried near the Butte. William, 42, was one of the 41 casualties of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade in November 1917.

Bestanden 1

Bronnen 5

Auckland Cenotaph
https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C1262?n=15865&w=World%20War%20I%2C%201914-1918&ordinal=0&from=%2Fwar-memorial%2Fonline-cenotaph%2Fsearch
Gebruikte bronnen
CWGC
https://www.cwgc.org/
Gebruikte bronnen
NZEF-Project
https://nzef.adfa.edu.au/
Gebruikte bronnen
The Long Long Trail
https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/
Gebruikte bronnen
W.S. Austin. The official history of the NZ Rifle Brigade East-Sussex: (The Earl of Liverpool's Own).The Naval & Military Press Ltd., 2007, pp 251-255.
Gebruikte bronnen