ROLL OF HONOUR

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21604, 5 January 1945, Page 4

ROLL OF HONOUR

N.Z.E.F. CASUALTY LIST GISBORNE MEN WOUNDED (P.A.) WELLINGTON. Jan. 4. The following personnel of the Second N.Z.E.F. were mentioned in a casualty list issued to-day:— Wounded King. Pte. Gordon Spencer; father, the Rev. E. T. King, Wairoa. Shanks. Pte. Steuart Wilson: wife. Mrs. M. Shanks, Gisborne. Svvinnerton. Sgt. Alan Lindsay; father, Mr. E. Swinnerton, late of Gisborne. KILLED IN ACTION Crowley, Pte. Douglas Ivan, Ohakune .Tunrl Havliursl, T/Cpl. Lawrence K., Timnru. McSwceny, Pte. William F., Palmerston N. Morgan, Pte. Ivan Godfrey, Levin. Paterson, Pte. Gordon James, Geraldine. KILLED IN ACTION—PREVIOUSLY REPORTED DIED OP WOUNDS Boniface, Pte. Herbert William, Wellington DIED ON ACTIVE SERVICE O’Connor, Tpr. Maurice Francis, Pukekohe. DIED ON ACTIVE SERVICE WHILE PRISONERS OP WAR—PREVIOUSLY REPORTED MISSING tlshaw, Pte. Albert R. H„ Fraukton Junot. Whyte, Gnr. Ernest, Roxburgh. WOUNDED Wylie, 2/Lieut. William J.. Seaward Downs Carey. Pte. Allan Hislop, Scotland. Caswell, Pte. Harold Gilbert. Geraldine. Crawford, Pte. Albert A., Port Chalmers. Esplin. Cpl. Percy Hunter, Gore. Greene, Pte. Albert, Plimmerton. Hopping, Tpr. Cecil W. G., Woolston. McCarthy. Pte. James Robert, Christchurch Philpott. Tpr. Leonard C., Cavcrshnm. Simpson, Gnr. Walter. Nelson. Stillwell, Pte. Kenneth, Halswell. Sullivan. Pte. Colin F. R., New Plymouth. Webb, Pte. Mervyn Vincent, Invercargill. PREVIOUSLY REPORTED WOUNDED & MISSING—NOW REPORTED NOT MISSING BUT REMAINS ON THE WOUNDED

LIST Gill, Pte. Arthur, Okaiawa

Reported killed in action. Captain P S. Munro was the son of the R'ev. H. W. Munro and Mrs. Munro, both well-known Maori missionaries, now of Riverton, Southland, and formerly nf Rotorua. Captain Munro was aged 29 years and was born in Hastings. He was educated at the Waerenga-a-hika and Hikurangi Maori schools, Rotorua High School. Auckland University College and Auckland Teachers’ Training College. He afterward soent some time teaching at the Whakarewarewa Native School and the Mourea Native School. Captain Munro also played a prominent part in encouraging music among the Maoris in and about Rotorua, being one of the founders of the Maori musical society of Ohinemutu and Whakarewarewa and organist for two years at the Ohinemutu Church. Captain Munro went into camp in May, 1941. and left for the Middle East after receiving his commission in New Zealand. He was wounded in Italy a year ago but rejoined his battalion in time for the march on Rome.

Lieutenant Ralph Bonfoy Rooper, DK.C., R.N. previously reported missing and now officially presumed to have been killed in action in March, 1944, was born in New Zealand in January, 1919, and spent his early years in this country. He was the elder surviving son of Mr. John R. Rooper. formerly manager for New Zealand of the Port Line, Limited, who for some years has been residing in England as a member of the London board of directors. Lieutenant Rooper entered the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1935 and served in the Malaya, the Kelvin and the Velox. Returning to England in 1943, he was shortly afterward appointed Senior Officer, Motor Gun Boats, at Ramsgate. He was awarded the D.S.C. in December, 1943. “for outstanding bravery, enterprise, and skill in successful attacks on enemy shipping in enemv coastal waters while serving in light coastal craft.” In the action in which he lost his life his ship led a notilla of British vessels into action with an enemy convoy of R-boats and armed trawlers, which outnumbered them by six to one. His vessel was hit 'at point-blank range and sank. The following ship succeeded in blowing up and sinking the leading R'-boat before retiring, and also set fire to a trawler. Lieutenant Rooper’s eldest brother, Anthony, who was in the Fleet Air Arm and served in H.M.S. Ark Royal, was killed in the air in 1941. ’ .