AUCKLAND SOLDIERS

New Zealand Herald, Volume 79, Issue 24193, 7 February 1942, Page 9

AUCKLAND SOLDIERS

CRETE SURVIVOR KILLED FOOTBALLER'S DEATH Advice has been received by Mr. and Mrs. W. Kirk, of-Shelly Beach Road, Herne Bay, that their younger son, Private J. S. Kirk, previously reported missing, has been killed in action. Private Kirk was educated at the Auckland Grammar School and was an enthusiastic yachtsman, owning the Maranui. He also played football for the College Rifles Rugby Club and was fullback in the Auckland B representative team. At the outbreak of war he was captain of his club's senior fifteen^

Previously reported missing, believed prisoner, and now reported killed in action on November 26, Sergeant Frank Neil Robertson, aged 22, left New Zealand with an Auckland infantry battalion in the Second Echelon and was in action in both Greece and Crete. He attended the Royal Oak School and the Seddon Memorial Technical College and before his enlistment was a member of the staff of the Central Fire Station. He was the youngest son of Mrs. H. M. Robertson and the late SergeantMajor Robertson.

Official advice has been received by Mr. and Mrs. A. Gibson, of West Street, Papakura, tliat their son, Lance-Corporal R. L. Gibson, aged 23, who was officially reported killed in action on November 26, is now a prisoner of war. Lance-Corporal Gibson was a member of the Papakura Rugby League senior B tpam, and was employed at the Otahuhu railway workshops He left New Zealand with the Third Echelon. The son of Mrs. E. JD. Hurrell, of Claudelands, Private Stanley James Hurrell, aged 23, who was reported killed in action on November 27, is now a prisoner of war, according to official advice. Mrs. Hurrell was fifst notified that her son was missing, and, some time later, she was advised that he had been killed in action. This week the Vatican radio gave his name as a prisoner, and official notification has since arrived confirming this report.