William Keith Berry

William Keith Berry, service number 25/81

This studio portrait depicts Rifleman William Keith Berry, service number 25/81, New Zealand Rifle Brigade

William Keith Berry, born in Kaikoura,  was 21 years old when he attested for service in October 1915. At this time he lived in Napier and he was working as a telegraphist for the New Zealand Post Office.

He embarked from Wellington on 5 February 1916  as a member of  'B' Company, 3rd Battalion, New Zealand Rifle Brigade.  On active service in France, he fought in the Battle of the Somme.

William’s military record reveals an interesting service history. He was punished for being absent without leave and later for 'hesitating to put on his gas mask'. It seems likely that he was slow to put on his mask during training behind the front line at Armentieres and his superiors made an example of him; committing the same error at the front line would have been fatal. He was given Field Punishment No. 2 - marching for many hours each day in full kit - and tasked with scrubbing floors and other chores.

But he also was rewarded for his services, gaining promotion to Lance Corporal and later Corporal and then Sergeant.  On 15 September 1916, he received a shrapnel wound in the left knee and was evacuated to the New Zealand Hospital at Walton-on-Thames; he was also treated there for recurrent influenza in May 1918. By this time he had transfered to the Medical Corps and was working at the hospital, probably in administrative posts. He evidently worked hard, given that he was  awarded the Meritorious Service Medal for his work at the hospital, and it was there that he met his future wife.

William Berry married Louise Simmons on 9 July 1919 in Maidstone, Kent.  Returning to New Zealand, they had two children, Zoe (who died at birth) and Allan.  William  resumed his career in the New Zealand Post Office, becoming Postmaster at Otaki, Te Puke and Ohakune. During the Second World War, William took it on himself to hand-deliver the dreaded telegrams bearing bad news of the killed, wounded or missing. 'When he went down the street,' recalls Allan, 'women would be howling, hoping that he would not be stopping at their house with this awful telegram, with its news.'

William died on 21 January 1962 aged sixty-six in Otorohanga, Waikato.  Allan recalls how, over the years, his father had a lot of pain from his old war wound. 'They didn't remove the shrapnel because they thought it would be more dangerous to remove it ... so he died with the shrapnel still in his knee.'