Portrait:
Surname: Board
Forenames: Comer
Age at Death: 36
Honours & Awards: Victory Medal, British War Medal
Date of Death: 7/06/1917
Last Residence or Enlistment Address:
Hangatiki
Family and other Information:
Brother of Arthur Board
Memorial: Te Kuiti
Service No: 21192
Rank: Lance Corporal
Regiment: 1st Battalion Auck.Reg.
Unit: Auckland Infantry Regiment, 1st Battalion
Embarkation Date: 19/08/1916
Place of Death: Belgium
Cemetery Name: La Plus Douve Farm Cemetery, Comines-Warneton, Hainaut, Belgium
Grave Reference: III. A. 17.
Cause of Death: Killed in action
Memorial Image:
Lance Corporal Board's gravestone or cemetery
Comer with a shorter soldier at Featherston Camp.
Memorial to the fallen, Messines.
Comer was wounded 28th Feb 1917 and re-joined his unit by 31st March.He was reported missing 9th June 1917.
Records show he was killed in action on 7th June the day of Battle for Messines began
Eye Colour: Blue
Hair: Brown
Height:
6ft 3in
191cm
Weight:
st 195lb
88.3kg
Date of Birth: 12/11/1882
Occupation: Farmer
Religion: Anglican
Next of Kin: Albert & Jane Board
Born in Somerset England, Comer's Family emigrated to NZ in 1885.
He was farming near Hangatiki when war broke out.
His regiment the 1/Auckland NZEF was involved in the attack on Hill 63 on the 7th June 1917.
Arthur Board (Brother)
The 1917 Battle of Messines
The carefully prepared attack was a striking success. It began at 3.10 a.m. on 7 June 1917 with the explosion of huge mines that had been placed under the German lines by hard-working tunnellers.
Almost immediately, New Zealand troops of 2nd and 3rd (Rifle) brigades left their trenches and advanced towards the ridge in front of them, on which lay the ruins of Messines village.
Australian and British troops on either side of them did the same. Following hard behind a meticulously planned sequence of standing and creeping barrages, these troops crossed no man’s land in minutes.
By the time the New Zealand Division was relieved on 9 June, it had 3700 casualties, including 700 dead
Researcher: Grant Board
Editor:
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Alternately select and load the image from your computer or use an image in the site’s media library.
One of the best websites for finding soldiers’ portraits is Auckland Libraries.
The best way to search for portraits on this site is to type in the surname, or surname and initial. If there are too many choices, try typing in surname + abbreviated rank:
Research the information online from the linked websites (or other sources you have found). The press “Edit” and type in the information.
We have a collection of memorial images on this website’s media library. Click “Edit” then select the Media Library tab. Search under name of location.
Also see the help tip above - How to add images to a page
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission website has images of most WW1 cemeteries. You can usually find these just by typing in the Surname and Initial and ticking “Served with NZ Forces” (ie you don’t have to fill in all the fields). When you reach the “Casualty details” page click on “Find out more” in the box with the thumbnail image for larger images of the cemetery.
Findagrave.com has images of many soldiers’ individual gravestones. You can find many of these by entering the first and last name and date of death (ie you don’t have to fill out all the fields in the form).
Also see the help tip above - How to add images to a page
The Cenotaph Database holds many images for some soldiers.
The Auckland Libraries site contains many images of NZ places (as well as soldier portraits).
Also see the help tip above - How to add images to a page
The military records of nearly all NZ soldiers and nurses who served in WW1 are scanned and held on the Archives NZ site, Archway. In addition to military information the soldier records also contain quite a lot of information about the individual: eye colour, height, weight etc.
Enter the full name of the soldier or nurse and click through to view their military record (this will open in a separate tab). The records are fairly large files and, depending on your internet connection, may take some time to download. Personal information is often found on the Attestation and Medical pages which are usually in the second half of the record.
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If you have personal images and objects you’d like to add, please scan them and upload the images, if you need help with scanning them, please get in touch.
Also see the help tip above - How to add images to a page
We have provided a selection of paragraphs about different battles, places and units relevant to NZ soldiers and nurses. Feel free to use these as appropriate.
For example, if you deduce from the date that a soldier was killed in action and the place of death that he died in a particular battle or campaign, you may want to use a paragraph about that.
Also see the help tip above - How to add images to a page
If the person you want to connect the soldier to is not on our list, please contact us with the details and we will be happy to add it. Although our starting list of names is of soldiers and nurses who had a connection to the region when they signed up, we’re also interested in any ancestors or family members of people in the Waikato today who were involved in the war in any way.
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