Lance Bridge

Private

Conflict:

WW1

Additional Information:

Son of Herbert B. and Leonore A. Bridge, of 186, Dewsbury Terrace, Oriental Bay, Wellington.

References:

CWGC

Archives New Zealand

Relatives Who Are Also Casualties:

Hugh Decimus Bridge, Brother, Killed in action near Reutel 25/11/1917

NZ WAR GRAVES

Public Contributions:

Known to all as "Deci", Hugh Decimus Bridge was the youngest of eight surviving siblings who grew up in Wellington at Oriental Bay. He was close to the next youngest, Lance, who was touted for All Bl...ack honours [Fullback] and competed with Tiny Freyberg in swimming races at Te Aro saltwater baths. He was also a notable rower and boxer. Deci was also an allrounder, a rowing champion at Star Boating Club, and Wellington Junior Athletics Champion in 1906. In 1904 he had been voted most popular boy at Roseneath Primary School. Later, he sang with the Wellington Operatic Society, through which he met his future wife, Joyce. Five months after the birth of their only child, Audrey ['Peggy'], Deci yielded to the call and enlisted with the Wellington Battalion [Lord Liverpool's Own] of the NZ Rifle Brigade and sailed for Britain and the Western Front in September 1916, with the rank of Sergeant. Upon arrival the ANZACS were stripped of their NZ rank, leaving Deci determined to prove his worth on the battlefield. This he did on 12 October 1917 during the 3rd Passchendaele battle, saving his section in a shellhole before spending the next day working to a standstill stretchering the dead and dying to the casualty clearing stations. Promoted to Corporal, he volunteered for dangerous reconnaisance in no-mans-land near Polygon Wood during which he was killed by a single sniper bullet on 25 November. I visited his grave at British New Buttes Cemetery in Polygon Wood, Belgium with a Wellington College tour group in 2006 where I was overcome with emotion at finding my Grandfather's gravestone among the countless thousands that populate huge cemeteries in Belgium and Northern France. Lance Bridge had enlisted at the outbreak of WW1 and went to Samoa with The NZ Expeditionary Force, where they basically swam and feasted, seeing no military action. Upon return to NZ they were posted to Gallipoli. Lance died at sea in August 1915 of wounds sustained when he went to the rescue of a mate on Rhododendron Ridge during the Wellington's assault on Chunuk Bair. On that same Wellington College tour in 2006 I was again emotionally overcome to see Lance's name inscribed in the Lone Pine memorial. Deci and Lance are also commemorated on the small war memorial at the entrance to Roseneath School, on a plaque at the adjacent Anglican church of St Barnabas, and on the honours board at the Star Boating Club. Read More

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Casualty

Service Number:

8/2255

Name:

Lance Bridge

Rank:

Private

Date of Birth:

Not known

Next of Kin:

Herbert B. Bridge (father), 34 Oriental Bay, Wellington, New Zealand

Date of Enlistment:

Not known

Enlistment Address:

34 Oriental Bay, Wellington, New Zealand

Armed Force:

Army

Unit:

NZEF, Otago Regiment

Casualty Details

Cause of Death:

Died of wounds, on H.M.H.S. "Dongola,"

Date of Death:

13 August 1915

Day of Death:

Friday

Age at Death:

Conflict:

WW1

Embarkation Details

Bodies of Embarkation:

Samoan Advance Party
4th Reinforcements

Places of Embarkation:

Wellington, New Zealand
Wellington, New Zealand

Transport:

HMNZT 1
HMNZT 2
HMNZT 21
HMNZT 22
HMNZT 23

Vessels:

Moeraki or Monowai
Willochra or Knight Templar or Waitomo

Destinations:

Apia, Samoa
Suez, Egypt (25 May 1915)

Text in italics supplied by Cenotaph Online, Auckland War Memorial Museum

Cemetery

Cemetery:

Lone Pine Memorial

Cemetery Reference:

Cemetery Location:

Turkey

Lance Bridge

Public Contributions:

Personal Tributes:

Casualty

Casualty Details

Embarkation Details

Cemetery