Harold Edward Old

  General Notes:

In Memory of
HAROLD EDWARD OLD
Lance Serjeant
10/1940
1st Bn., Wellington Regiment, N.Z.E.F.
who died on
Wednesday, 3rd April 1918. Age 23.
Additional Information: Son of William and Emma Jane Old, of Wanganui, New Zealand. Also served at Gallipoli.
___________________________________________________________________________

Commemorative Information
Cemetery: ETAPLES MILITARY CEMETERY, Pas de Calais, France
Grave Reference/
Panel Number: XXXIII. C. 5A.

Location: Etaples is a town about 27 kilometres south of Boulogne. The Military Cemetery is to the north of the town, on the west side of the road to Boulogne.

Historical Information: During the 1914-18 war, the neighbourhood of the Cemetery became the scene of immense concentrations of British reinforcement camps and of British hospitals. It was remote from attack, except from aircraft, and it was accessible by railway from either the northern or the southern battlefields. In 1917, 100,000 troops were camped among the sand dunes, and the hospitals (which included eleven General, one Stationary and four Red Cross Hospitals and a Convalescent Depot) could deal with 22,000 wounded or sick. In September 1919, ten months after the Armistice, three hospitals and the Q.M.A.A.C. Convalescent Depot remained. T he earliest burial in the Cemetery dates from May 1915. There are now nearly 11,000, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site and over 100 from the 1939-45 War. The cemetery covers an area of 59,049 square metres. The graves lie below three terraces, the midmost of which carries the War Stone and two pylons, and the highest is dominated by the Cross.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Military: Killed in Action WWI. Served in Gallipoli. Killed at the Somme. Served as Lance Sergeant 1st Bn, Wellington Reg, N Z E F. Aged 23 years., Between 1914 and 3 Apr 1918.