WEEKS, John Walter
(Service number 23/1232)
Ethel Beard (sister & bridesmaid), Charlie Chikato (best man), John Weeks (groom), Bob Lighton (groomsman, standing at rear), Florence Beard (bride, at front), and Lavina Stout (or Stoat?) (Courtesy of P Weeks, South Canterbury Museum L2014/019.03)
| First Rank | Rifleman | Last Rank | Quartermaster Sergeant |
|---|
Birth
| Date | Unknown | Place of Birth |
|---|
Enlistment Information
| Date | 29 May 1915 | Age | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Address at Enlistment | Care of W. Hayman, Studholme Junction, New Zealand | ||
| Occupation | |||
| Previous Military Experience | |||
| Marital Status | Single | ||
| Next of Kin | Albert J. Weeks (father), care of R. Meredith, Hatuma, Hawke's Bay, New Zealand | ||
Military Service
| Served with | NZ Armed Forces | Served in | Army |
|---|
Embarkation Information
| Body on Embarkation | 1st Battalion, New Zealand Rifle Brigade | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Unit, Squadron, or Ship | Machine-gun Section | ||
| Date | 9 October 1915 | ||
| Transport | Maunganui or Tahiti or Aparima or Navua or Warrimoo | ||
| Embarked From | Wellington, New Zealand | Destination | Suez, Egypt |
| Other Units Served With | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Last Unit Served With | |||
Military Awards
| Campaigns | Egyptian Expeditionary Force 1916, Western Europe [France] | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Service Medals | 1914-15 Star, Victory Medal, British War Medal | ||
Award Circumstances and Date
"In recognition of valuable services rendered in connection with the war" (London Gazette, 3 June 1919, p7023)
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 | Age | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Place of Death | |||
| Cause | |||
| Memorial or Cemetery | |||
| New Zealand Memorials | |||
Biographical Notes
Weeks was 21 years old when he joined the Army in May 1915. He was a recent immigrant from England and had been working as a farm labourer at Studholme before the war. He was 5 foot 6 inches tall and had light brown hair with a fair complexion. After five months training in New Zealand he left for Europe in October 1915. He was originally in the Rifle Brigade but before he arrived on the Western Front he transferred to the Machine Gun Company.
In September 1916 Weeks went into action as part of the major attack at The Somme. As the Kiwis pushed forward on the first day he was wounded by a bullet in the right thigh. He was evacuated from the battlefield and eventually taken to England. He was treated at the 1st New Zealand General Hospital at Brockenhurst and thankfully made a full recovery. Before long he re-joined his old unit, the Machine Gun Company.
Weeks continued to serve in the Machine Gun Company and rose through the ranks to finally become a Company Quarter Master Sergeant. By the end of the war he was serving in the company’s depot. Weeks must have been very good at his job because he was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal for his efforts. At the end of the war he married an English woman he had met while recovering from his wounds and then returned to New Zealand. After the war he went back to working on farms and lived until he was 90. Curiously he died on 15 September, the same date he was wounded at the Somme.
Sources
Cenotaph database [10 October 2014]; SCRoll submission from P A Weeks, October 2014 (L2014/019)
External Links
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Researched and Written by
Tony Rippin (South Canterbury Museum)
Currently Assigned to
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Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License unless otherwise stated.
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