Private Stafford Wilson

Private Stafford Wilson, 2nd Battalion, Otago Regiment, New Zealand Expeditionary Force. He was killed in action on 15th September 1916, aged 29, during the Battle of the Somme. He was the son of Margaret and the late John Wilson of Tweedmouth and is buried in Caterpillar Valley Cemetery, Longueval, Somme, France. He had emigrated to New Zealand in 1909 with his good friend William Hope who as a Sergeant was wounded in the same action. The Battalion and its sister Unit 2nd Battalion Auckland Regiment was tasked to capture the German positions in ” Switch Trench “.  They did so in fine style with the help of four Tanks but with casualties from an enfilading machine gun. It was here that Sergeant Donald Brown of the Regiment won the Victoria Cross for destroying that gun and others that were threatening to hold up the advance. The photographs show troops on the Somme with the colour image showing a peaceful Somme landscape today.

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