15724 Private Robert Elliott Robertson, (1919-8/11/1945). "lack of conclusive evidence"

 

Robert Robertson's life and death seem to be a mystery.  He joined the Army in September 1940, also announcing his engagement to Olive Jessie Williamson of Kyeburn.  He was a teacher before enlistment.

He joined the 26th Infantry Battalion in 1941 and was captured in December of that year on the island of Crete. His date of capture is several months after the 26th Battalion left the island and it is very likely that he was hidden on the island by the locals, at risk of their lives but not his.

His Army record shows that he was present in four Italian PoW camps after his capture.  After that, his name does not appear in German camps - after the Italian surrender in 1943, many prisoners made their way to Allied lines, often helped by the Italian Resistance. A number stayed with the Resistance until the end of the war.

Robert Robertson died after - well after - the end of the war in Europe, while crossing a river.  His name is inscribed on the Cassino Memorial.

N.Z.E.F. CASUALTIES

LAST NAMES HAVE BEEN THOROUGHLY CHECKED 

SIX UNTRACED MEN ARE PRESUMED DEAD. 

(P.A.) Wellington, June 11. With one exception, all the casualties in the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force have now been officially accounted for. 

A list was issued today containing the names of six of the last seven men whose fate has not been so far determined because of lack of conclusive evidence. These six men previously had been reported missing, but they are now presumed dead. 

One of the six men was reported missing from the campaign on Crete in May, 1941. The others were taken prisoner early in the war, but there has been no future word of them since their capture. 

An official of Base Records said there had been special difficulties in finding out what had actually happened to these men, but on the evidence available, and with the lapse of time, they now have been deemed to be dead, and a casualty list issued accordingly. The list is as follows:

28945, Hodgson, William Gnr. N.Z.A., next-of-kin, Mrs. C. Hodgson (mother), Ngatea. 

14794, Miller, John Sydney, Pte., Inf. Bde„ Mrs. A. L. Miller (mother), 3 Hood Street, Castlecliff, Wanganui. 

15618, Nichol, Robert Moray, Pte.. Inf. Bde., Mr. J. L. Nichol (brother), 276 High Street, Dunedin. 

15724, Robertson, Robert Elliott, Pte., Inf. Bde., Mrs. A. C. Robertson (mother), P.O. Box 49, Oamaru. 

16104. Spence, Massey, Cpl, Inf. Bde., Mrs. A. Cook (mother) Gilbert Street, Gore. 

1277 Tarr, Kenneth Clifford, Bdr., N.Z.A., Mrs. M. H. Tarr (mother), 437 College Road, Palmerston North.  -Wanganui Chronicle, 12/6/1948.

Oamaru Cemetery.