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6/2185 2nd Battalion, Canterbury Regiment, New Zealand Expeditionary Force.
Gerald Letchford was born on 25 November 1891in Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, the youngest son of five children of Arthur James and Caroline Letchford. The family lived at one time in Tenterden, Kent where his father was a bank clerk. By 1911 his father had been promoted to Bank Manager of the London County and Westminster Bank on Market Hill, Sudbury and his parents were living on the premises.
It is not known when Gerald emigrated to New Zealand. Prior to enlisting he had been employed as a farmhand and living in North Canterbury, when he enlisted to serve with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force on 13 May 1915. Gerald was described as being 5ft 8˝ ins in height, 145lbs in weight with fresh complexion, blue eyes and black hair. He is reported as having a squint but it was recorded that he ‘could see well enough’.
Gerald joined the Canterbury Battalion in the Dardanelles on 9 August 1915 and was taken onboard a hospital ship on 18 August and transferred to hospital in Alexandria on 25 August. He was then transferred back to England onboard HS Marathon to Edgbaston on 24 September 1915. On leaving hospital in January 1916 Gerald was sent to the New Zealand Forces base depot at Grey Towers.
Gerald embarked for France on 23 November 1916 and was sent to Etaples, a large training area known as the Bull Ring, known for its rigorous training and strict discipline. The Canterbury Battalion had been divided and he rejoined his unit (now 2nd Battalion) on 14 December 1916 but was sent to No. 7 General Hospital in March 1917.
He rejoined his unit and was then sent for Lewis Gun training in June and then to the Pigeon School; homing pigeons played an important part in communication during the war, carrying coded messages attached to their leg. Gerald rejoined his unit in Belgium on 15 July in preparation for the forthcoming Allied offensive: the Third Battle of Ypres, more commonly known as Passchendaele (31 July – 10 November 1917).
Gerald died on 8 August 1917. There is no known grave and he is remembered on the Messines Ridge (N.Z.) Memorial, Mesen, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium.
He was awarded 1914-1915 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal; these were posted to his mother living in Bexley, Kent as his next of kin.
A Cross of Remembrance was laid close to his name on the Messines Ridge Memorial in April 2009.
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