Add Information to Record of a Person who served during the Second World War on The Wartime Memories Project Website
Add Information to Record of a Person who served during the Second World War on The Wartime Memories Project Website
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206127
Pte Alfred Hector Peterson
New Zealand Army Nz Infantry 22nd Motor Btn
from:New Plymouth, New Zealand
(d.3rd Dec 1942)
Alf was my Dad's cousin and Dad remembers seeing him off to war as a 10 year old. Alf was captured at Olympus Pass in Greece in his first action of the war approximately 16 April 1941. He was held as a POW at Stalag 18a. On the 3rd of December 1942 he was killed by a sentry. He is buried at Klagenfurt War Cemetery in Austria.
Apparently there is a Red Cross report from January 1943 that mentions Alfs death, it states that an inquiry was under way, but Alf was supposed to have threatened a sentry. There must have been more to it, as after the war a murder investigation was carried out.
I have a newspaper clipping sent to his mother, but it has no date. The clipping tells that the sentry responsible for killing Alf received a sentence of 17 years for his murder after being tried by the United Nations War Crimes Commission. An accomplice was still on the loose and believed to be in the Mediterranean area.
If anyone knows more or knew Alf I'd be interested to hear from them.