Gnr Ray Tregear (Mt Evelyn), 2nd Battery, 2nd Brigade, New Zealand Artillery: Is stationed with four other men in a gunpit on Hill 63 facing Messines. On this day the Germans decided to attack Messines as part of their Spring 1918 offensive in what it usually referred to as the Battle of Lys. Very early in the morning, as the men slept in the gunpit, a shell landed right upon them killing them all instantly. As the New Zealand forces around them were soon being forced to fall back there was nothing much they could do but collect their identity disks and dig their bodies in where they lay. He is 25 years old and as his body was never recovered again he is listed on the New Zealand Memorial to the missing at Messines Ridge.
Pte John Ellis (Mt Evelyn), 23rd Battalion: He is in a shell hole by himself when they came under artillery attack. Sadly, a shell landed directly on him and according to one witness ‘he was blown to pieces, there wasn’t much to bury’, he was 33 years old. His mates dug a grave for him nearby and made a small cross to go on his grave. He was later reburied at the Meaulte Military Cemetery in Picardie, France.
L/Cpl Harold Wilkin (Wandin), 39th Battalion: Is wounded in action for a third time, gunshot wound left thigh, and is evacuated to hospital in England.
Pte Robert Jenkins (Gruyere), 21st Battalion: Is wounded in action, shell concussion from a bomb blast, and is evacuated to hospital in England.