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MCKEE, Gregory
(Service number 47350)

A formal portrait of the McKee brothers of Waimate, probably taken prior to their departure for service in 1917. — The brothers are likely to be Bernard, Gregory and Francis (in uniform), plus Cornelius (not in uniform) who failed his medical due to hernia. Their other, older brother, Owen, was also balloted for service in June1917, but refused to take his medical as he believed in unlawful, and was imprisoned as a result. Given that history it is unlikely he is one of those pictured.
Three of the brothers are pictured in uniform, bearing cap badges of the 8th (South Canterbury) Mounted Rifles. Two wear matching collar tabs, while the brother standing in the centre wears Mounted Rifle Reinforcement collar tabs, used by the 25th to 47th Reinforcements. The brother sitting on the left is probably Bernard (Barney) also has a number collar tab - possibly reading 36, which he is shown wearing in another portrait.
The rear of the print bears a barely readable name "Ethel Elderton", whom Cornelius married in 1927.
(South Canterbury Museum 2019/179.107)

Aliases
First Rank	Trooper	Last Rank

Birth

Date	19/05/1895	Place of Birth	Waimate

Enlistment Information

Date	2 February 1917	Age	21
Address at Enlistment	Waihaorunga
Occupation	Farmer
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status	Single
Next of Kin	Owen McKee (father) Waihaorunga
Religion	Roman Catholic
Medical Information

Military Service

Served with	NZ Armed Forces	Served in	Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation	NZ Expeditionary Force
Unit, Squadron, or Ship	28th Reinforcements, Mounted Rifles
Date	7 June 1917
Transport	Westralia
Embarked From	Wellington, New Zealand	Destination	Suez, Egypt

Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With

Military Awards

Campaigns	Egypt
Service Medals	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	19 June 1919	Reason

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Suffered pneumonia, diarrhoea 1917-1918

Post-war Occupations

Foreman

Death

Date	12 April 1954	Age	59
Place of Death	Christchurch
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery	Ruru Lawn
Memorial Reference	Blk 8 plot 285
New Zealand Memorials	St Patrick's (Waimate) Memorial list (June 2015)

Biographical Notes

One of nine children of Owen Francis and Margaret McKee, including brothers Joseph Francis, Cornelius Patrick, Bernard, and Owen James Francis McKee who were also called to serve. After the war Gregory married Beatrice Ellen Howard in 1928. During World War Two he again enlisted and served in the Home Guard until diischarged on 1 January 1944.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph database (May 2015); Archives New Zealand; New Zealand BDM Historical Records online; Billion Graves at http://billiongraves.com/; Paperspast; ancestry.co.au

External Links

Researched and Written by

Liz Shea, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License unless otherwise stated.

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