Profile

WEEKS, John Walter
(Service number 23/1232)

Aliases
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
Religion
Medical Information

Military Service

Served with NZ Armed Forces Served in Army
Military District

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
Military Awards Meritorius Service Medal (MSM)

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

Discharge

Date Reason

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Wounded 29 September 1916 at the Somme

Post-war Occupations

Death

Date Age
Place of Death
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery
Memorial Reference
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

Related Documents

No documents available.

Researched and Written by

Tony Rippin (South Canterbury Museum)

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

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