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Cook Islands Online Cenotaph
Preserving Cook Islands Military History
Akara ki mua e akara katoa ki muri
To be able to look forward, you must be able to look back
Brought to you by
Final rank:
Private
First name/s
Ernest
Last name
MITCHELL
Service number and Regiment/Unit/Corps
16/1378
New Zealand Māori (Pioneer) Battalion, 4th Reinforcements
Also known as
Harry MITCHELL
Date of birth
08/10/1893
Place of birth
Vava'u, Tonga
Date of death
24/09/1916
Place of death
Somme, Northern France
Death registration number
NZ1918/59607 (post war death registration)
Headstone/grave location
Bulls Road Cemetery, Flers, Somme, France
Next of kin
Mr Ernest Hamilton Mitchell, Rarotonga, Cook Islands (father)
Jane Smith (formerly Mele Matele Mitchell), Faleula, Samoa (wife)
Archives New Zealand online service record
Additional information
Enlisted 23 December 1915. As he was of mixed race, he was directed to train at Narrow Neck Military Training Camp Auckland New Zealand. Posted to the New Zealand Pioneer Battalion 9 September 1916. Killed in Action in France 24 September 1916. Field burial 50 yards east of McCormick's Post Cemetery, about 3/4 miles west of Flers and 3.5 miles north east of Combles. Final burial at Bulls Road Cemetery, Flers, France.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission commemoration:
https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/193894/ernest-mitchell/
Images and documents (click on images to enlarge)
Image credits and references
Headstone image source: https://www.nzwargraves.org.nz/casualties/ernest-mitchell
Portrait of E. Mitchell. Auckland Grammar School chronicle. 1917, v.5, n.1. Image has no known copyright. Source: https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/search?n=ernest+mitchell
Commemorative certificate courtesy of Commonwealth War Graves Commission:
https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/193894/ernest-mitchell/
Further links
N/A
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