CROSS, Harold Victor
(Service number 2/1398)
| First Rank | Gunner | Last Rank |
|---|
Birth
| Date | 28 March 1890 | Place of Birth | Oamaru |
|---|
Enlistment Information
| Date | Age | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Address at Enlistment | Wellington (YMCA) | ||
| Occupation | Coach builder | ||
| Previous Military Experience | |||
| Marital Status | |||
| Next of Kin | William CROSS (father), 9 Haast Street, Linwood, Christchurch | ||
Military Service
| Served with | NZ Armed Forces | Served in | Army |
|---|
Embarkation Information
| Body on Embarkation | 4th Reinforcements | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Unit, Squadron, or Ship | New Zealand Field Artillery | ||
| Date | 17 April 1915 | ||
| Transport | Willochra or Knight Templar or Waitomo | ||
| Embarked From | Destination | ||
| Other Units Served With | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Last Unit Served With | |||
Military Awards
| Campaigns | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Service Medals | |||
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 | Age | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Place of Death | |||
| Cause | |||
| Memorial or Cemetery | |||
| New Zealand Memorials | |||
Biographical Notes
Harold Victor Cross was the third son of William and Mary Ann (née Morris) Cross. His registered name at birth was Arnold Victor Cross. He was educated at Oamaru North School, leaving when he turned 14½ to go out to work. Harold’s parents had moved to Christchurch some time after 1914. Harold was the best man for his brother Edric Stanley Cross in January 1915 at the Linwood Methodist Church. The New Zealand Divisional concert party presented a pantomime – “Achi Baba and the Forty Thieves” - on 26 December 1917. A member of the orchestra was Private H. V. Cross. Private Harold Victor Cross came home per the “Maunganui”, arriving in June 1919 at Port Chalmers.
Mrs Mary Ann Cross died at their residence on 18 March 1926 and was buried in Bromley Cemetery. William Cross, who was probably an early settler in Otago, had gone to live with his daughter Vera at Dannevirke and, dying in 1951, he was buried in Greytown Cemetery. What became of Harold Victor Cross after the war? Harold Victor Cross, born 28 March 1890 at Oamaru, New Zealand, enlisted at Sydney, Australia, in the Army Citizen Military Forces for World War II.
It appears that Harold had spent time in the Timaru area. The Methodist Church of Timaru placed a handsome window in the Bank Street Church as a memorial for the war victims of the congregations. Apart from the names of the fallen appearing on the window, the names of all who served were inscribed in a book which was to be preserved in the Church. Included in the names was that of Harold Victor Cross.
Sources
Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [24 March 2020]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [30 March 2020]; School Admission record [30 March 2020]; Australia World War II Military Service Records Index (ancestry.com.au) [30 January 2020]; Star, 13 June 1919, Timaru Herald, 5 July 1922, Auckland Star, 23 December 1939 (Papers Past) [24 & 30 March 2020]
External Links
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Researched and Written by
Teresa Scott, 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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