Lawn Arthur William Lamason Captain 122768
Personnel Entry
Name Lawn Arthur William Lamason
Army number 122768
Rank Captain
Decorations
Date of birth 1/1/1904 at Stratford, Taranaki.
Age 38
Unit New Zealand Territorial Force - Wellington Regiment, served in 1st Battalion as Company Sergeant Major (described as Student School Teacher in civil life). Commissioned as 2/Lt on first appointment to 1st Battalion, Wellington Regiment 14/8/1923 (Gazetted 6/9/1923). Transferred to Taranaki Regiment 29/4/1925 - appointed 2/Lt in 1st Battalion, retaining his seniority. Durham Light Infantry - Emergency Commission as 2/Lt 5/3/1940, Posted 10th Bn DLI, Posted 11th Bn DLI 30/6/1940, Iceland, Iceland Force HQ. Trf Pioneer Corps 31/1/1942. Relinquished Commission on being appointed to a Commission in the New Zealand Forces 31/5/1942. Posted to the New Zealand Infantry in the rank of Captain - Number 865. Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force. DIED at sea 11/7/1942.
Company/Battery 10th Bn - B Company, 11th Bn - B Company
Platoon or other sub-unit
Task or role 1st Reinforcements (Force Duties) Iceland.
Joined Brigade 5/3/1940 or shortly thereafter
Promotions A/Captain 1/4/1940, W/S Lt and T/Captain 1/7/1940
Wounded
Prisoner of War
Died/Killed in action 11/7/1942
Home address School Teacher. Son of Charles Henry and Barbara Mary Lawn (nee Lamason), of Stratford, Taranaki, New Zealand. Commemorated on the Wellington Provincial Memorial, Karori Cemetery, Wellington, New Zealand.
Source table 10DLI
The following message was left on the Wartime Memories Project Website :-
Capt. Arthur William Lamason "Paddy" Lawn . British Army 10th Battalion Durham Light Infantry from Hawera, NZ.)
(d.11th Jul 1942 )
Paddy Lawn was a well-loved teacher and swimming coach at Hawera NZ. He went to London in 1937 to help with unemployed youth auspices through the YMCA.
When war started he went to NZ House to join up and was told to join the local Durham Light Infantry. Having been a Territorial in New Zealand, he was made a Captain right away and then found himself right through France and Dunkirk. The Battalion reformed at Ilford and was sent to Iceland as part of the Garrison.
Later Paddy was transferring to the NZEF from the BEF when the ship was torpedoed by U boat. He was last seen holding up another soldier in shark-infested waters near Iceland.
Tom Lawn.
Attempts to contact Tom Lawn by e-mail, using the address left on the Website,have, unfortunately, been unsuccessful. However, subsequent correspondence with Mark Pirie has been most helpful and information about Captain Lawn has been exchanged. It is hoped that the New Zealand Military Archives will have more information on Captain Lawn's earlier career in the New Zealand Forces and why he was travelling to Wellington, NZ, at the time of his death.
Particular thanks are due to Alison Taylor of Auckland War Memorial Museum, New Zealand, who provided research guidance and advice on obtaining more information about Captain LAWN.
