DEATHS
BURNS. — On November 18. 1946, at Dunedin. 2/25 Sergeant Henry Arapata Koti Burns. M.M. (late of 6th Howitzer Battery, 1st N.Z.E.F.), dearly beloved husband of Pani Te Waru Burns, of Otakou, and loved father of Patricia and Maera; aged 51 years. "Pumau kite atua” (forever with the Lord). — The Funeral will leave his late residence, Otakou, To-day (Wednesday), the 20th inst., at 2.30 p.m. for the Portobello Cemetery. — R. McLean and Son, funeral directors. -Otago Daily Times, 20/11/1946.
I have been able to find few details online about Henry Burns' story. He volunteered for the Army in the first days of the war, leaving his position as a cadet in the Education Department. His Military Medal was awarded for "acts of gallantry in the field" - but those acts seem not to have been recorded. The award is dated September 30, 1918, at a time when the crisis of the almost-successful German spring offensive was well over, the German Army were retrating and reports could be digested and awards made. The early months of 1918 were certainly ones in which "acts of gallantry" were many, though his acts may have occured earlier or later as he spent time in late 1917 and early 1918 in hospital bering treated for piles and veneral disease. He is certainly in action in May of 1918, being promoted to Bombardier in July.
He returned home and to the Education Department at the end of the war. He married Pani Te Wary Taiaroa in 1925. His probate record describes his occupation as Farmer.
I am indebted to the Ministry of Education, Ne Tahuhu o te Matauranga, as well as my usual sources, for some the above information.
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