PERCY BUCKNER

Private Percy Buckner was killed in action on 25 August 1918. He had been born in Ashburton in 1885 and was educated at Harewood School. Prior to his enlistment in July 1917, he had been working as a farm labourer on a family property in Rolleston, south of Christchurch. After training at Trentham (where he was fined two days' pay for overstaying his leave) he left for Europe in November 1917. He was posted to the Otago Infantry Battalion and arrived in France in late March 1918. He began active service in the trenches in the Amiens area in June and a month later contracted diarrhoea, being hospitalised in Doullens. He rejoined his unit in early August and was killed in action in the Battle of Bapaume. He is buried in the cemetery at Achiet-le-Grand. Like his brother William, he is also commemorated on the Rolleston War Memorial as well as the Harewood School memorial (see below).

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