Joelene W. (nee Gibson) contacted MRNZ to register the lost medals of a family member, her great-grand uncle, Trooper Noel Pairman Gibson who had been killed at Gallipoli. Of the people who register missing medals with us the return rate is not high. Only a handful of those listed are reunited each year with descendants, however it must be said that if your family’s missing medals are not listed, then you have missed an opportunity to advertise not only New Zealand wide but also world-wide what it is you are looking for for. Five months after registering Noel Gibson’s missing medals, I was perusing the Auckland War Memorial Museum’s Cenotaph website and had cause to open Noel’s file. On the profile page I found the following message posted:
Cenotaph Message
I currently have Noel Pairman Gibson’s British War Medal (1914-1920) in my possession, if there is anyone related to Noel Pairman Gibson I would be willing to give them the medal.
Public – James – Researcher
After gathering some details from James, I contacted Joelene about the message. Not expecting such a quick response to her request, a very surprised Joelene followed James’s offer up and in due course, true to his word, James sent her the medal. The medal (minus ribbon) had been found by James in very poor shape, slightly corroded and rusty as it had been buried for a long period of time. However the resilience of the metal which has a high component of silver was salvageable and so Joelene had a jeweller attend to it with impressive results considering its start point. The medal truly reflected what Noel Gibson must have faced on the slopes of Gallipoli on the day he was killed!
13/341 Tpr. Noel Pairman GIBSON
Noel Gibson was born at Te Awamutu on 8 August 1893, a month that would attract major significant in his war service. At the time of Noel’s birth, his parents – Matakana born Marion Jean, nee Wallace (1864-1921) and father Frank Robinson Gibson Snr. (1858-1950), ran the Post Office in the Waikato settlement of Wharepuhunga near Kihikihi, about 40 kilometers west of Tokoroa.
Noel was one of seven children, the eldest being Albert John Blair GIBSON (1883-1929), then Frank Robinson Gibson Jnr. 1885-1942, George Wallace GIBSON (1886-1916), Hannah Myrtle [Gibson] BRADLEY (1887-1970), Noel Pairman Gibson, Frederick Hugh GIBSON (1895-1970) and Florence Beatrice [Gibson] TIBBY (1898-1988).
Prior to the World War 1, Noel Gibson had been employed as a “Chainman” at the Auckland Surveyor’s Office of Brian D. Willis. A Chainman was responsible for the routine manual activities involved in land surveying including assisting the survey crew with such things as clearing lines of sight, holding the level rod or distance meter reflector at designated points to assist in determining elevation and laying out stakes (chaining – measuring distances in chains) for map making, construction, land and other surveys; calling out readings or writing station number and reading, in the survey log book.
Additional to his employment, Noel was a serving Territorial Trooper with ‘C’ Squadron of the Waikato Mounted Rifles, one of three Territorial mounted rifles regiments from the Auckland Military District that comprised the Auckland Mounted Rifles Regiment (AMR), a unit of the NZ Mounted Rifles Brigade.
Training for war
Noel Gibson was one of four Gibson brothers who voluntarily enlisted for service overseas in the First World War, however sadly only two would return. Noel was 21 years old when he was attested at Hamilton on 15 August 1914 to serve for the duration of the war. The AMR was assembled and brought up to full strength at Epsom Camp, Auckland. Men who had been guilty of serious offences were immediately struck off the roll and replaced by others selected from the hundreds of eager volunteers. Not surprisingly, Commanding Officer Lt-Col. Charles Mackesy’s insistence on a strict level of discipline meant he demanded high standards and which he maintained within the AMR.
Noel Gibson embarked for Suez, Egypt with the 4th Squadron, AMR as part of the NZEF’s Main Body on 16 October 1914. On arriving in Egypt in October, the NZEF’s Base Camp at Zeitoun, about 9 kilometers north of Cairo needed to be established after which training commenced in mounted desert operations in anticipation of operations in Egypt, the Sinai and Palestine.
On April 8th, Noel sent a postcard to his mother:
My Dear Mother,
There is nothing startling to write about this week, so I am still on the P.C. Act. These are all the 4th officers from left to right Mjr Tattersall, Mjr Chapman, Lieut. Abbot and Lieut. Milliken. I did not receive a letter from you last mail but hope there will be one tomorrow. It is very windy today and consequently very dusty.
All the boys are well and wish to be remembered to you. Will write a letter next week.
Trusting you are all well. I remain your loving son, Noel
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Gallipoli
When the Ottomans entered the war, immediate emphasis for New Zealand was the Gallipoli Peninsula for which there would be no requirement, nor opportunity, for mounted operations due to the nature of the terrain. The Australian and New Zealand Division landings at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915 was a confused affair that hat begun badly when the initial landings by the Australians occurred on the wrong beach. Anzac Cove was not the intended landing place as it was very small, narrow and the hinterland rose sharply via a series of steep ridges and deep gullies that peaked at an extended ridgeline where the Ottomans were well dug in. Nevertheless the ANZAC’s as they became known, committed themselves to the fray with the landing of Australian and New Zealand units continuing to land throughout the day. The tempo of the maelstrom of shot and shell from the Ottomans – artillery, machine-gun and rifle fire was constant and hammered away at the ANZACs even before the reached the beach, one that was quickly littered with the dead and wounded.
As they struggled to gain footholds in the uphill terrain, progress was slow for the majority who found it to be a slow, uphill grind against a well entrenched enemy on the high ground. This was a place that would at no time favour the invader. The casualty count among the ANZACs in the first few weeks was horrendously high however hang on they did with grim determination for only meagre to fill the ever increasing gaps in the front line. Within weeks it was apparent that many more reinforcements would be needed than had been anticipated. After political pressure was bought to bear on the NZ government at home by Maori politicians, the Maori Contingent at Malta was finally authourised to join the battle on 3 July. This at a time when plans were also under way to withdraw some of the NZers to Cape Helles in the south to support a diversionary attack on Krithia by British and French forces.
Trooper Gibson was one of 1500 NZ Mounted Rifles soldiers who had remained in Egypt, but were now also required to bolster the flagging ANZAC Division’s numbers on Gallipoli. The ANZAC’s were only just maintaining a tenuous hold of their defensive positions when the 1500 NZMR men who embarked troopships at Alexandria on 9 May 1915, and were rushed to Gallipoli, landing on the Peninsula three days later on the 12th. At the same time 1400 Australia Light Horsemen also arrived to replace Australian losses.
Chunuk Bair – Happy Birthday Noel!
The Wellington Regiment together with the 7th (Service) Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment; and 8th (Service) Battalion, Welch Regiment, and two squads from the Auckland Mounted Rifles (unknown if Tpr. Gibson was among these) made a most determined attempt to unseat the Ottoman’s from their hilltop vantage point on Chunuk Bair on 8 August. The attack achieved fleeting success when the first troops reached the summit however many were decimated by the return fire. These were relieved at 2230 hours (10:30pm) on 8 August by the Otago Battalion, and the Wellington Mounted Rifles Regiment and the summit remaining in NZ hands. Whether or not Trooper Gibson was among the men of the two AMR squads or not, irrespective of wherever he was on the Gallipoli Peninsula, his 22nd birthday which fell on the 8th of August would be one birthday he was unlikely ever to forget … if he survived!
The New Zealand troops were relieved by 2000 hours (8:00pm) on 9 August by the 6th Battalion, South Lancashire Regiment and 5th Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment who were massacred and driven off the summit in the early morning of 10 August, by an Ottoman counter-attack. The prized Chunuk Bair was won and lost several times over the ensuing days until timely Ottoman reinforcements overwhelmed their attackers and forced them from the feature. The cost to the Wellington Regiment alone was substantial, including its much admired Commanding Officer, Lt-Col. William Malone.
The total strength of the AMR, including those who were sick, was just 66. Only 22 of the 288 officers and men who began the advance remained; the rest had been killed, wounded, fallen ill, or were missing. Since 6 August, the AMR had lost 57 men killed, 144 wounded and 27 missing in action. Trooper Gibson had so far survived.
Hill 60
Two further ill-planned attacks unfortunately were on the drawing board. Hill 60 was a well defended Ottoman position which presented a major obstacle to reaching the main force of Ottomans dug in on the summit and forward slopes of the Sari Bair ridgeline. Enemy machine-gun posts on Hill 60 had clear lines of fire from their positions and the distinct advantage of enfilade. This together with substantial artillery support made the task of the attackers a very difficult prospect. On 21 August the troops assembled and waited in the shade of a hot, sunny afternoon for the supporting attacks to begin. The artillery bombardment did little more than alert the enemy that they were about to be attacked. At 3.30pm in the afternoon, the waiting troops sprang up from their covered positions and began running forward across the 700 meters of flat, open ground towards Hill 60. Over half of attackers were scythed down by machinegun and artillery fire within the first 15 minutes. Trooper Gibson was not one of the fallen.
A second attack on Hill 60 was ordered a week later for the 27th of August in an effort to expand the foothold gained, in an attack on the 21st. A force of 1300 men (NZ, Aust and British) were assembled for this attack. The entire New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade (including 300 AMR troopers) and the Otago Infantry Regiment were to be committed. AMR troopers were to be in the first wave of the attack. At 1600 hours (4.00pm) the ANZAC artillery’s ‘softening up’ of the enemy before the attack, as before did not have the desired effect. At 1700 hours (5.00pm) the NZMR and Otago Regiment moved from their cover towards the Ottoman trenches on the approach to Hill 60. As soon as they moved enemy machine-gun fire and shards or shrapnel from bursting artillery rounds, came from all directions killing and wounding the men.
The first line of Canterbury and Auckland mounted riflemen got into the first trench and laid into the Ottomans with bayonets, bombs (hand grenades) and rifle butts; the trenches were soon heaped with dead and dying Ottomans (and NZers). The second line of men from the Wellington and Otago Regiments leapt over their heads to attack the second trench line. Enemy resistance stiffened as Ottoman reinforcements poured down the communications trenches from as yet untouched depth positions. Within a day the 119 officers and men of the Canterbury regiment were reduced to 18 survivors. The fighting continued into the night until dawn, the NZMR defending the captured Ottoman trenches against counter-attacks throughout the 28th and consolidating their position. This would be the last engagement by the New Zealanders on Gallipoli.
The AMR suffered heavy casualties on Hill 60: one officer and 37 other ranks were killed, four officers and 61 other ranks wounded. When the AMR began accounting for its men after the battle, Trooper Gibson was among the missing. The intensity of enemy artillery fire over the two days of the battle had wreaked havoc on the attacking force. As was normal after a period of action, once all those soldiers who had been reported as ‘missing’ were confirmed to be ‘missing’, a Board of Enquiry was convened to ascertain their actual fate. The Board convened at the Sarpi Camp, Lemnos on the 30 Nov 1915. The Board concluded in the case of Trooper Noel Gibson whose body was never found, “it was reasonable to suppose he was dead at the Dardenelles on 28 August 1915”. Tpr. Noel Pairman Gibson is remembered at Gallipoli on the Hill 60 (New Zealand) Memorial, Hill 60 Cemetery, Turkey.
Medals: 1914/15 Star, British War Medal 1914-1918, Victory Medal + Memorial Plaque & Memorial Scroll. NOK entitled to Anzac (Gallipoli) Medallion.
NZEF Service Overseas: 0 years 317 days
Total NZEF Service: 1 year 13 days
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Notes: The Brothers GIBSON
Frank Robinson Gibson Jnr. was the only Gibson brother not to go to war. His father Frank Snr. was rapidly approaching sixty years of age when the war started and until then, had depended on his sons to help running the family’s two dairy farms at Wharepuhunga and Matamata. With all but one son leaving to serve overseas, the voluntary enlistment of four Gibson sons enabled Frank Jnr. to apply and be granted an exemption from service by the Military Service Board so he could run the farms.
13/2320 Trooper George Wallace Gibson (1886-1916), a Farmer, born at Te Awamutu in Jun 1886. George enlisted with the Auckland Mounted Rifles (AMR) on 21 Aug 1915. He embarked for Egypt with A Squadron, AMR on the HMNZT Aparima with the 7th Reinforcements on 9 Oct 1915. George was with the mounted units assigned to assist with the protection of the Suez Canal. He was Killed in Action in the Suez Canal Zone on 9 August 1916, age 27 and was buried on the battlefield. Service Overseas: 305 days; Total NZEF: 354 days. Trooper Wallace Gibson is remembered on the Kantara Memorial, Kantara War Memorial Cemetery, Egypt. - 13/341 Trooper Noel Pairman Gibson (1893-1915)
13/2320 Trooper George Wallace Gibson (1886-1916), a Farmer, born at Te Awamutu in Jun 1886. George enlisted with the Auckland Mounted Rifles (AMR) on 21 Aug 1915. He embarked for Egypt with A Squadron, AMR on the HMNZT Aparima with the 7th Reinforcements on 9 Oct 1915. George was with the mounted units assigned to assist with the protection of the Suez Canal. He was Killed in Action in the Suez Canal Zone on 9 August 1916, age 27 and was buried on the battlefield. Service Overseas: 305 days; Total NZEF: 354 days. Trooper Wallace Gibson is remembered on the Kantara Memorial, Kantara War Memorial Cemetery, Egypt. 
- 34356 Private Frederick Hugh Gibson (1895-1970), a Farmer, born at Te Awamutu in Oct 1895. He had also joined the 4th Waikato Mounted Rifles as a Territorial soldier, two months short of his 21st birthday when he enlisted on 21 August 1916. He sailed with the 20th Reinforcements for England on 28 May 1917. In May 1918, Fred was transferred to E Company of the NZ Cyclist Corps which was attached to the 22nd Corps of Cyclists Battalion. Eight weeks later Fred was Wounded in Action and following treatment was returned to his unit in the field and saw out the remainder of the war without further injury. Fred Gibson returned to NZ in May 1919 and was discharged from the NZEF on 5 August 1919. Service Overseas: 2 years 188 days; Total NZEF: 2 years 350 days
- 31987 Rifleman Albert John Blair Gibson (1883 –1929), a Stockman for the Farmers Freezing Company, Horotiu, born at Te Awamutu in Nov 1883. Albert enlisted on 25 July 1916 with the 1st Wellington Company, Wellington Mounted Rifles, later transferring to the 1st Battalion, Wellington Infantry Regiment, NZ Rifle Brigade. Albert travelled to Egypt and England with the 13 Reinforcements on HMNZT 68 Maunganui on 15 Nov 1916. Hospitalised on the ship with Enteritis, Albert was wound in the left hip on the third day of the opening Battle of the Somme in June 1916. Returned to England for treatment, Albert went back to France to join his unit, only to be gassed and evacuated again to England. Albert survived and returned to NZ on 27 June 1919, the date on which he was discharged from the NZEF. Service Overseas: 2 years 197 days; Total NZEF: 2 years 338 days
Albert Gibson may not have died at war but war still killed him not too long after. After he returned to NZ he worked on his brother’s farm in Matamata for a short while, then left for Australia. He suffered from PTSD which in those days was no such thing. You were just labelled mad/insane. He also suffered from diseases he picked up as did many other soldiers living in the filthy trenches. When he arrived in Australia he travelled around Queensland working on farms, fixing fences etc. In 1925 Albert was living at the Criterion Hotel in Richmond (far north) and listed as a Labourer.
At some point Albert was admitted to the Goodna Asylum (later Wolston Park) for the criminally insane which had been in operation since the 1880s. This is where it appears Albert spent his final days. As was the practice at Goodna, asylum inmates who died were buried in a shallow, unmarked grave near the hospital. Latter day researchers have determined that Albert’s grave and many others have since then been built over. It is unknown if any bodies were moved beforehand. The Asylum also garnered for itself a dreadful reputation while in existence being the subject of many inquiries over torture and other treatment. It is believed Albert Gibson passed away at the Goodna Asylum in 1929, at the age of 46.
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A mother’s love …
Marion Gibson like many other mothers who were close to their sons, lamented the loss of Noel and George for the rest of her life. Noted for her ability to write poetry, she found some solace in writing for her ‘boys’:
Forget, ah no, some may forget
The love that once they gave
But mother’s love still follows her sons
Far, far, beyond the grave.
Marion was in her late fifty’s when she wrote the following the following verse just before she died (of a broken heart) in October 1921.
Greater love hath no man
They went with the hope of returning
Along with their comrades as brave
With many other heroes they died
Along with their comrades as brave.
With many other heroes they died
That others might be saved,
God in his wisdom called them
My cross I must always bear.
And I wait for the end that is coming
The end, yes the end – of all care.
For Noel and George from Mother, 1921.
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Gallipoli memento
In the course of looking through Noel Gibson’s military file I had also noted that the Anzac (Gallipoli) Commemorative Medallion Noel Gibson’s next of kin was entitled to had never been claimed. This is medallion was a joint Australian and New Zealand initiative to acknowledge the surviving Gallipoli veterans in 1967 during an acknowledgement of the 50th anniversary of the Gallipoli Landings on 25 April 1915. Availability of the medallion was extended to the widows and next of kin of Gallipoli veterans who had died prior to the medallion’s production in 1967.
Joelene’s father was a direct descendant of Noel Gibson’s (in terms of descendant seniority) and therefore entitled to claim the medallion. I sent Joelene an application and the criteria for her father to make the claim. Several months later Joelene received an officially issued Gallipoli Medallion from the NZDF Personnel Archives and Medals office.
Only one more to find
In December, Jolene contacted me to say that she had located another of Noel’s medals. The 1914/15 Star named to Noel apparently had been in the possession of another relative all along, but as is normally the case, it was not widely known among family members.
That leaves only Tpr. Noel Pairman’s Victory Medal and Memorial ‘Death’ Plaque yet to be found. Please contact MRNZ if you have theses medals or know where they are.
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My thanks to Joelene who very kindly allowed us to feature the Gibson family’s photographs; and to James C. who unknowingly began this story with his post on Cenotaph and generous offer to return Noel Gibson’s medal. Thanks also to the staff at NZDF Personnel Archives & Medals for processing Joelene’s request for the medallion so promptly.
The reunited medal tally is now 508.