N.Z. CASUALTIES

Grey River Argus, 6 October 1941, Page 7

N.Z. CASUALTIES

P.A WELLINGTON. October 5. The following air casualties were announced to-night:— Pilot Officer Leon Giles Williams. — Killed in a flying accident. A. G Williams 2 Arundel Flats, Brooklyn Road, Wellington (f). ; Pilot Officer Francis Soltan Pillans. Killed in a flying accident. Mrs. E. Pillans, Tauranga (m). Third Son Dead IN ONE FAMILY. The accidental drowning of Private James Wesley Lee, a son of Mrs W. J. Lee of Whangarei, officially notified yesterday, was conveyed personally by the Minister of Defence Hon. F. Jones, in a telephone conversation with the Whangarei Area Officer, who undertook to deliver the sad tidings to the bereaved mother. Poignancy is added by the fact that Private Lee is the third of three brothers, all volunteers with the Second N.Z.E.F. to have lost their life in this way. Just a year ago, two younger brothers Privates Richard and William Lee, were accidentally drowned in a bathing misadventure on the Nile River. No details of the latest tragedy are available, except that it occurred on September 30. It is persumed that Private Lee was involved in the rescue of -w Zealand soldiers caught in the undertow when bathing on a Mediterranean Beach, referred to in a cable on Friday.