WORNER, Alfred
(Service number 14727)
| First Rank | Sergeant | Last Rank |
|---|
Birth
| Date | 11/07/1898 | Place of Birth | Geraldine, NZ |
|---|
Enlistment Information
| Date | 11 January 1916 | Age | 17 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Address at Enlistment | Ohutu, New Zealand | ||
| Occupation | Farm hand | ||
| Previous Military Experience | |||
| Marital Status | Single | ||
| Next of Kin | Peter Dunbar Helem (father), Ohutu, New Zealand | ||
Military Service
| Served with | NZ Armed Forces | Served in | Army |
|---|
Embarkation Information
| Body on Embarkation | New Zealand Rifle Brigade | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Unit, Squadron, or Ship | 5th Reinforcements 4th Battalion, H Company | ||
| Date | 26 June 1916 | ||
| Transport | Tahiti | ||
| Embarked From | Wellington, New Zealand | Destination | Devenport, England |
| Other Units Served With | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Last Unit Served With | New Zealand Rifle Brigade, 1st Battalion | ||
Military Awards
| Campaigns | Western European 1916-1917 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Service Medals | British War Medal; Victory Medal | ||
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 |
Death
| Date | 13 August 1917 | Age | 19 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Place of Death | Ypres, Belgium | ||
| Cause | Killed in action | ||
| Memorial or Cemetery | Messines Ridge (New Zealand) Memorial, Messines Ridge British Cemetery, Belgium | ||
| New Zealand Memorials | On Memorial wall, Timaru; Geraldine War Memorial | ||
Biographical Notes
Alfred was the son of Frederick William and Florence May Worner (nee Helem), one of the couple's nine children. When only one year of age his father died, so he went to live and was raised by his mother's borther, Peter Dunbam Helem and his wife. When he enlisted he did so under the surname Helem and gave his parents as Mr. and Mrs. Peter Dunbar Helem of Ohutu, Rangitikei (actually his aunt and uncle).
Another reason Alfred enlisted undert the surname Helem is that he was underage - and gave his birthdate as 9 July 1895, making him three years older than he actually was. He enlisted on the same day as his brother, Alexander, who also gave a false date of birth. Both brother's stories feature in Josh Scadden's book "Broken Branches: New Zealand Families Who Lost Three Or More Children in the Great War" (Fair Dinkum Publications, 2018).
Two of his brothers, Alexander and George Worner, also served in the war and all three were killed in action.
Sources
Cenotaph (12 August 2013); SCroll submission by K Close, 23 July 2025
External Links
Related Documents
Researched and Written by
Tony Rippin (South Canterbury Museum)
Currently Assigned to
Not assigned.
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License unless otherwise stated.
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