Profile

PIERCE, George Edward
(Service number 6/2726)

Aliases
First Rank Private Last Rank Private

Birth

Date 4 December 1896 Place of Birth Orari, New Zealand

Enlistment Information

Date 17 April 1915 Age 18
Address at Enlistment Wilson St, Geraldine, New Zealand
Occupation Carpenter
Previous Military Experience 2nd South Canterbury Regiment
Marital Status Single
Next of Kin Mrs L. Pierce (mother) Wilson Street Geraldine, New Zealand
Religion Church of England
Medical Information 5 foot 8 1/2 inches tall, weight 146 lbs, chest 33 inches, fair complexion, grey eyes, brown hair, upper teeth false, lower fair

Military Service

Served with NZ Armed Forces Served in Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation 6th Reinforcements
Unit, Squadron, or Ship Canterbury Infantry Battalion
Date 14 August 1915
Transport Willochra or Tofua
Embarked From Wellington, New Zealand Destination Suez, Egypt
Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With Canterbury Infantry Battalion

Military Awards

Campaigns Egyptian & Mudros
Service Medals 1914-1915 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal
Military Awards

Award Circumstances and Date

No information

Prisoner of War Information

Date of Capture
Where Captured and by Whom
Actions Prior to Capture
PoW Serial Number
PoW Camps
Days Interned
Liberation Date

Discharge

Date 26 May 1916 Reason Medically unfit

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

24 November 1915: admitted to NZ General Hospital Cairo suffering from dysentry. 16 March 1916: Christchurch Hospital. 7 April 1916: admitted to Timaru Hospital as carrier of Enteric fever

Post-war Occupations

Baker & Carpenter

Death

Date 18 February 1966 Age 69
Place of Death Temuka, New Zealand
Cause
Notices Timaru Herald 19 February 1966
Memorial or Cemetery Temuka, New Zealand
Memorial Reference RSA Row 200, Plot 23
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

George was born at Orari on 4 December 1896, the second son of a family of eleven children by Leonard & Elizabeth Ann (nee Fififield) Pierce. He was educated at Geraldine District High School, and on leaving school, trained as a carpenter.

Prior to enlisting in the Canterbury Infantry Battalion on 17 April 1915, he was working as a carpenter for Rooke & Bagrie at Geraldine. H had previous military experience with the 2nd South Canterbury Regiment. He was described as being single, Anglican, 5 foot 8 ½ inches tall, weighing 146 lbs, chest measuring 33 inches, of fair complexion, grey eyes, brown hair, having false upper teeth, the lower ones being fair. He gave his mother, Mrs L. Pierce of Wilson Street, Geraldine, as his next of kin. Private Pierce embarked from Wellington on 14 August 1915 with the 6th Reinforcements aboard the Willochra or Tofua, bound for Suez, Egypt. Following Egyptian service, he joined his Battalion at Mudros on 30 September 1915. On 24 November he was admitted to the NZ General Hospital, Cairo, suffering from dysentery and para typhoid. Found unfit for further military service, he left aboard SS Tahiti on 11 February 1916, for return to New Zealand and arrived in Dunedin on 15 March. He was admitted to the Christchurch Hospital on 16 March and on 7 April, and was then transferred to Timaru Hospital as a carrier of enteric fever. On 26 May 1916, he was finally discharged from the army as medically unfit for further military service due to illness contracted on active service. After the end of hostilities, George was awarded the 1914-1915 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal for his service.

On his return to Temuka, George married Miss Christina Adeline Horwell in 1923. The couple had two children, but Christina unfortunately died young at Temuka on 12 October 1928. George again married in 1930, this time to Miss Rosina Simpson Muirhead. George set up a bakery and catering business in Temuka, but during the depression he was forced to close the business and went to work on the Homer Tunnel project. On his return he again took up the trade of carpenter and spent the rest of his working life at the NZ Insulators, Temuka. He was an early member of the Temuka RSA, the Druids Lodge, and a very keen card player, fisherman. He later took up outdoor bowls.

On 18 February 1966 George died at Temuka, and is buried in the Temuka Cemetery, RSA Section.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotpah Database (August 2015); Military Personnel file at NZ Archives (August 2015); Timaru District Council Cemetery Database at http://www.timaru.govt.nz/services/community-and-culture/cemeteries/cemetery-search (2 September 2015); NZ BDM Historical Records at https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz; Papers Past at http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz : Otago Daily Timaes 15 March 1916 "The Tahiti: Arrival at Port Chalmers, The invalided men" (2 September 2015); Ancestry at http://search.ancestry.com.au/cgi-bin/sse.dll?gl=allgs&gss=sfs63_home&new=1&rank=1&msT=1&gsfn=george%20edward&gsfn_x=1&gsln=pierce&gsln_x=1&MSAV=1&cpxt=1&cp=14&catbucket=rstp (2 September 2015); New Zealand ANZACs in the Great War 1914-1918 at http://nzef.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=205131 (2 September 2015)

External Links

Related Documents

No documents available.

Researched and Written by

Ted Hansen, SC branch NZSG; Dianne Hall

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

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