Profile

MENZIES, John Guthrie
(Service number 6/504)

Aliases
First Rank Private Last Rank

Birth

Date 22 February 1890 Place of Birth Maheno, Otago

Enlistment Information

Date Age
Address at Enlistment 1 Grey Road, Timaru
Occupation Drapers assistant
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status Single
Next of Kin John MENZIES, Coronation Street, Waimate
Religion Anglican
Medical Information

Military Service

Served with NZ Armed Forces Served in Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation Main Body
Unit, Squadron, or Ship Canterbury Infantry Battalion
Date 16 October 1914
Transport Tahiti or Athenic
Embarked From Destination
Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With

Military Awards

Campaigns
Service Medals
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 Reason

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Post-war Occupations

Farmer

Death

Date 27 April 1971 Age 81 years
Place of Death New Zealand
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery Papatoetoe Cemetery, Auckland
Memorial Reference
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

John Guthrie Menzies was the son of John and Margaret Menzies. He was educated ay Maheno and Oamaru South schools. Responding to the first call for men, John was one of many keen and determined applicants at the Drill Shed on 11 August 1914. He was not one of those rejected, mostly for defects to the teeth and one or two on account of height; he passed the medical exanimation and was sworn in. The successful applicants were liable to be called up at any moment, and it was quite probable that they would leave Timaru in a matter of days for the central camp at Christchurch as part of the 2nd South Canterbury Regiment's quota. He suffered gunshot wounds to his hand, his face, his left arm, resulting in some permanent disability. He lost the thumb and index finger on his right hand. John married Ellen (Nellie) Alice Vause in 1921. His brother Louis Wilkie Menzies also served in World War I.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [21 April 2019]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [21 April 2019]; School Admission record (Oamaru Branch NZSG) [21 April 2019]; Papatoetoe Cemetery headstone transcription (South Canterbury Branch NZSG cemetery records) [21 April 2019]; Timaru Herald, 12 August 1914 (Papers Past) [02 December 2013]

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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