Profile

DAWSON, Charles Richard
(Service number 47318)

Aliases
First Rank Private Last Rank

Birth

Date 12/11/1891 Place of Birth Adair

Enlistment Information

Date Age
Address at Enlistment Adair
Occupation Labourer
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status
Next of Kin Mrs Mary DAWSON (mother), Adair
Religion Church of England
Medical Information

Military Service

Served with NZ Armed Forces Served in Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation New Zealand Expeditionary Force
Unit, Squadron, or Ship 26th Reinforcements, Canterbury Infantry Battalion, C Company
Date 9 June 1917
Transport Willochra
Embarked From Destination
Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With

Military Awards

Campaigns
Service Medals
Military Awards Military Medal

Award Circumstances and Date

Operations on Welsh and Bon Avis Ridges - 28th September to 1st October 1918. For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. Though severely wounded in the arm while carrying a Lewis Gun during the advance, he would not abandon it, but carried on. Though under machine gun fire and not able to work his gun, he stuck to it till he found the rest of his section, and handed it safely over. If It not been for this man's bravery and determination, the fighting effectiveness of his platoon would have been greatly affected and the success of the operations endangered. (London Gazette 13 March 1919 p 3452, Rec No 2867)

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

Post-war Occupations

Death

Date 23 April 1963 Age 71 years
Place of Death
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery Waimairi Cemetery, Christchurch
Memorial Reference Block AN36, Plot 19
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

Charles Richard Dawson was the son of Charles and Mary (née Doharty) Dawson. He married Elizabeth Jane Gobbitt in 1925 at St Mary's Church, Timaru.

Charles was wounded on 29 September 1918 - gunshot wound to right wrist. After being transferred to the convalescent depot he was re-admitted to hospital on 13 October. In December 1918 Charles was a warded the Military Medal for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty during operations on Welsh and Bon Avis Ridges between 28 September to 1 October 1918.

Charles' brother Paul also served in World War I.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [13 February 2018]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affiars); Timaru Herald, 26 October 1918, Evening Post, 18 December 1918 (Papers Past) [13 February 2018]; SCRoll web submission by C Mackintosh, 20 May 2019

External Links

Related Documents

No documents available. 

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

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