Profile

SAMS, Herbert William Home
(Service number )

Aliases William
First Rank Corporal, Motor Ambulance Driver Last Rank Driver

Birth

Date 10 September 1889 Place of Birth Deloraine, Tasmania, Australia

Enlistment Information

Date Age
Address at Enlistment Balmoral Station, South Canterbury, then in England
Occupation Tutor; orchardist
Previous Military Experience Cadets at Timaru Main School.
Marital Status
Next of Kin
Religion Church of England
Medical Information

Military Service

Served with French Armed Forces Served in Service de Sante Militaire in France (1916).
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation 1916 joined the British Ambulance Committee's division of the French Red Cross.
Unit, Squadron, or Ship
Date
Transport
Embarked From Destination
Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With

Military Awards

Campaigns
Service Medals Victory Medal
Military Awards Certificate marked with the words "Croix de Guerre" (French)

Award Circumstances and Date

June 1917, removing wounded men from the firing line (at Verdun in February 1916) - "gave to the service of the wounded all the bravery and courage of a select personnel". See printout from Poverty Bay Herald, 26 June 1917.

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

Invalided - impaired health, returned home to NZ in 1917; after about a year returned to service (June 1918).

Post-war Occupations

Chief administrator of the Save the Children Fund. Refugee settlement in Europe, especially in France.

Death

Date 5 March 1975 Age 85 yrs
Place of Death Chalfonts Hospital, Gerrards Cross, England
Cause
Notices The Times, London, England; 8 March 1975
Memorial or Cemetery Parkside Cemetery, Hedgerley, England
Memorial Reference
New Zealand Memorials St Stephen's Anglican Church, Fairlie, Roll of Honour (On Active Service)

Biographical Notes

Son of William Thomas & Annie Maria (nee HOME) SAMS, of Balmoral, Fairlie. He died in 1975 in England. Brothers Frank Douglas Home SAMS & William Montague Home SAMS also served in WWI. Educated at Lower Shotover, George Street Dunedin & Mornington Dunedin schools, then at Timaru Main School & Timaru Boys' High School. Gained a B.A. in 1923 in NZ. In 1916 he went from Wellington, NZ, to England, with his brother Frank. In June 1918, Herbert returned to the front after twelve months sick leave. His wife, Louisa Violet, died three days before him, at the same hospital & they shared a funeral service at St James Church, Gerrards Cross on 12 March 1975. [See BIO.]

Sources

Timaru Herald, 16 December 1904, 17 December 1906, 31 January 1907, 3 May 1907, 23 May 1916, 21 September 1916, 17 April 1917, 17 July 1917, 12 November 1917, 5 February 1918, 24 June 1918, 22 October 1918, Press, 22 May 1916, 22 June 1917, 16 October 1918, Auckland Star, 6 June 1916, 21 June 1917, Poverty Bay Herald, 26 June 1917, Evening Post, 17 October 1918, 6 July 1921, 23 & 25 November 1921, 17 May 1923, 5 January 1939 (Papers Past) [28 February 2014, 02 March 2014]; Washington Passenger List - Alien Certificate, Canada Arrivals, British Army WWI Medal Rolls Index Card (interactive.ancestry.com.au) [02 March 2014]; 'The Uninvited: At The Rich Man's Gate' - Jeremy Harding (Google search) [02 March 2014]; The Times, London, England, 24 December 1923, 24 May 1937, 14 July 1939, 26 July 1952, 5 & 8 March 1975 (NZSG Online Newspapers) [02 March 2014]; www.vyger.co.uk - Gracey -The Second World War 9Google search) [02 March 2013].  

External Links

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