Private Julius Rasmussen died on the first day of 1918, from wounds originally sustained on 16 December 1917. Julius Rasmussen had been born in Dannevirke in 1894, descended from the Scandinavian immigrants who settled there in the late 19th century. Prior to his enlistment in June 1916, he had been living in Bedford Street Belfast, working as a painter at the time. After nearly four months of training in New Zealand, he embarked for England, was posted to the 3rd Battalion of the Canterbury Infantry Regiment and arrived in France in time for the Battle of Messines. He survived the horrors of Passchendaele, only to be wounded in the chest and right leg, and despite being evacuated to a Canadian hospital at Étaples, he died two weeks later and is buried in the military cemetery at Étaples.
Back to The Men from Papanui