Geboortedatum: 14/06/1896

Geboorteplaats: Levuka, Lomaiviti, Fiji

Beroep: Treinbestuurder

Land: Nieuw-Zeeland

Strijdmacht: New Zealand Expeditionary Force

Rang: Private

Service nummer: 19459

Dienstneming datum: 18/09/1916

Dienstneming plaats: Narrow Neck, Auckland, Nieuw-Zeeland

Eenheden:  —  New Zealand Maori (Pioneer) Bn.  (Laatst gekende eenheid)

Datum van overlijden: 08/10/1917

Plaats van overlijden: Lijssenthoek, Remy Siding Casualty Clearing Stations, België

Doodsoorzaak: Died of wounds (D.O.W.)

Leeftijd: 21

British War Medal Medaille

Victory Medal Medaille

Private Joseph Curtis 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 Joseph Curtis was wounded on 7 October 1917. He was most likely wounded while working on the roads near Spree Farm and Kansas Cross. He was transported to the Casualty Clearing Station at Lijssenthoek (Remy Siding), where he succumbed to his wounds and was buried on the 8th of October 1917.

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, (Uckfield, Naval and Military Press, 1926,) 124-125. Gebruikte bronnen

Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery http://www.lijssenthoek.be/nl/adres/12606/-joseph-curtis.html Gebruikte bronnen

McCarthy C., The Third Ypres Passchendaele : The Day-by-Day account, (London, Unicorn Publishing Group, 2018), 113-117. Gebruikte bronnen

Commonwealth War Graves Commission Database https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/433114

Namenlijst (In Flanders Fields Museum) https://namenlijst.org/publicsearch/#/person/_id=bcc3beff-3ca3-4cd2-bbb2-fba945aab4fe

Lives of the First World War (Imperial War Museum) https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/lifestory/7173281

The NZEF Project (UNSW Canberra) https://nzef.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=60153

Online Cenotaph (Auckland Museum) https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C3591