81455 Trooper Godfrey Alexander Glossop, (1917-18/11/1943). "one of the best swimmers"

PRIVATE GODFREY A. GLOSSOP.

Private Godfrey Alexander Glossop, who was 27 years of age, was the oldest son of Mr and Mrs G. E. Glossop, of North-east Belt. He was born at Ashburton and educated at the Ashburton East and High Schools, after which he worked in his father’s butcher shop in the Triangle. Private Glossop left New Zealand at the end of last year. 

Private Glossop was known as one of the best swimmers in the county and he was a tireless member and past captain of the Ashburton East Swimming Club. He played football for. High School Old Boys and was also a member of the Ashburton Golf Club. Private Glossop was also a member of the Ashburton Club and M.S.A. His two brothers are both in the forces, Colin in the Royal New Zealand Air Force overseas, and Keith in the Army in New Zealand.  -Ashburton Guardian, 8/12/1943.

Grodfrey Glossop was killed during the New Zealand Army's first engagement in Italy.  Having become an armoured unit, it was their first with tanks.  The 19th, together with troops of the 19th Indian Brigade, qwere to attack a small Italian village called Perano. A successful attack would threaten a bridge on the other side of the village held by the German Army and it was hoped they would destroy it, thus removing it as a route for enemy armour.

In order not to betray the arrival of New Zealanders in Italy, radio silence was ordered for the tnaks.  This caused problems as the kiwis went in - German armour was there in more numbers than expected and the fourteen New Zealand tanks were soon in trouble.  Camouflaged German armour and guns opened fire on the 19th's tanks and four were soon knocked out, three of them burning.  Two more were knocked out soon after.  

Three hours after the start of the assault, the bridge was blown.  Seven members of the 19th Battalion died in that first armoured assault on the enemy. One of them was Godfrey Glossop.

CLUB'S TRIBUTE

Loud Speaker System Unveiled 

MEMORIAL TO SIX EAST SWIMMERS 

“We honour them.” World War II. 1939-1945. Lloyd Tait, Noel Thomson, Dave White, Godfrey Glossop, Ken Lithgow, George Eyles. So reads the inscription plate on the loud-speaking apparatus which was unveiled by the Mayor (Mr E. C. Bathurst) at the opening carnival of the Ashburton East Swimming Club last evening as a memorial to six members of the club who gave their lives in the recent war.

The unveiling ceremony took place at an interval during the carnival. It was unfortunate that such an occasion was necessary, said the president of the club (Mr G. Bowman). These six men who had obeyed the call to duty and died so that we might live, were missed, said the speaker, by those who had watched them grow up from childhood. He asked that those remaining might live lives worthy of their sacrifice.

Those whose sacrifice was being perpetuated would have approved of the acquisition of the loud-speaker and the proposed extension of the baths, was: the opinion expressed by the Mayor.

Wonderful Community Centre

“In Ashburton East you have a wonderful community centre, the envy of the rest of the town,” commented Mr Bathurst. There were the swimming baths, the memorial hall, and organisations like the Women’s Institute and kindergarten, all part and parcel of the one district of Hampstead, a state of affairs made possible by the sacrifices of the men who fought in the World Wars.

After officially unveiling what he described as this “very worthy memorial,” Mr Bathurst read over the loud-speaking system, being used for the first time, the names of the men who made the supreme sacrifice, as they appear on the inscription plate, the names by which they were familiarily known, while the assembly stood in silence.

Subsequently the loud-speaker was ueed in the conducting of events and proved highly satisfactory. A handsome piece of equipment, it promises to be a real boon to the club as well as a fitting tribute to its former members.  -Ashburton Guardian, 26/11/1947.

Ashburton Cemetery.