Soldier’s sacrifice remembered
The family of a Kiwi World War I hero has gathered to remember the young man who lost his life liberating a town on the other side of the world just a week before the war ended.
Sergeant Walter Mcintyre was 22 when he was killed as Kiwi soldiers worked to free French village Le Quesnoy.
He had no children, but the soldier’s surviving nephews and nieces and their descendants gathered near O¯ hingaiti to put up a memorial plaque marking the 100th anniversary of his death yesterday.
Nephew Don Mcintyre, 83, said the soldier’s generation rarely spoke of their loss, so his family knew little about him until a history project last year turned up Army records and citations that verified family legend.
It was Don Mcintyre’s sister Eleanor Bowler’s idea to place a memorial plaque in Mcintyre Reserve, which used to be part of the family farm before their grandfather donated it to the Rangitı¯kei District Council.
‘‘[Walter’s] body never came back and with the 100th anniversary coming up we’d thought it’d be fitting to put a plaque up to remember him at his old home,’’ Don Mcintyre said.
Walter Mcintyre earned the Distinguished Conduct Medal and was promoted to sergeant for his actions on the day he died, in New Zealand’s last major victory of WWI.
The fortified French village fell into German hands in 1914 and remained so until the Kiwis crossed its medieval ramparts single file on a rickety ladder to liberate the town. One-hundredand-forty-two New Zealanders were killed in the battle.
Don’s son Stuart Mcintyre said the family understood Walter Mcintyre was temporarily in charge of his unit as they fought towards Le Quesnoy, but was shot before they got there.
‘‘He got hit in the thigh. But, because he was an acting sergeant, he had to make sure his unit carried on. He said: ‘I’m OK, she’ll be right. Leave me here and get on with it. I’ll be fine’.’’
The unit pressed on and helped to capture 2000 Germans and free 3000 villagers. But Walter Mcintyre lied about the seriousness of his wound. He bled out in the field and was buried at a small crossroads cemetery nearby.
It was only seven days before Armistice Day.