SOLDIER’S FATE

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 25030, 12 November 1946, Page 6

SOLDIER’S FATE

OFFICIALLY PRESUMED DEAD

POLICE FIND NO EVIDENCE TO CONTRARY

(P.A.) WELLINGTON, November 11. “Missing, presumed dead” is the Army casualty classification for Private George Parnell, reported killed in Crete in 1941, but the police are still making inquiries as to his whereabouts. Their file has been circulating from one end of the Dominion to the other since investigations began in July, 1945. There is no evidence to the satisfaction of the police that this soldier is still alive, but there are some people who. think he may be. He was last seen just before a shell hit a trench. There is no record of his being buried, and none of his being taken prisoner.

However, it is reported that last year a woman and her husband, who : were friends of the Parnell family, say they met Private Parnell travelling on the Limited express to Wellington. He is stated to have told them that he was seriously wounded on Crete and was 18 months in Italy before being transferred to a prisoner of war camp, and that he was released in Italy and returned to New Zealand via Australia in an Allied ship. It is reported that this woman knew Private Parnell well, introduced him to friends on the train, and talked about incidents before the war. He has not been seen since.

Statements have been made by men who were in the slit trench with Private Parnell when the shell landed. They all believe that he was killed. The mystery remains unsolved, though the Army authorities have made exhaustive investigations.