GEOFFREY WILLEY

On 9 July 1916 Private Geoffrey Lisle Willey, like Kerridge a veteran of Gallipoli and a member of the Canterbury Infantry Battalion, was killed in action around Armentiéres. His roots appear to have been in Fendalton rather than Papanui, but he is commemorated on the Belfast War Memorial, so it is possible that he worked there at some time before moving to Cheviot. In 1914, he had been employed as a shepherd in Riwaka in the Nelson District, and volunteered on 13 December 1914. He was sent as a reinforcement to Gallipoli in May 1915, where he had been wounded in the leg at Chunuk Bair. Geoffrey Willey was evacuated to Cairo to recover from this wound, and later sent to Mudros in anticipation of being returned to Gallipoli. However, he was not required there and returned with the rest of the New Zealanders to Egypt in December 1915. He sailed with the New Zealand Division to France, and was based near Armentieres. It is likely that he was a victim of the active patrolling and raiding undertaken by the New Zealanders at this time and is buried at the Cite Bon Jean cemetery at Armentieres.

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