Robert Gordon Walsh
Gordon in the army in 1941 and in the navy in 1944
Gordon was born on April 21, 1921 at New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand, the son of Arthur Francis Louis Walsh (23744), who served for New Zealand in WW1.
He joined the army and 1 Taranaki Regiment, around November 1939 where his service number was 2/4/201 (126064) and became a corporal. He joind the navy in 1941, with the service number NZ9187, and served on HMNZS Philomel, HMNZS Tamaki, HMNZS Cook, HMNZS Toia, and HMNNZS Gambia. On Gambia, Gordon, sometimes known as RG, served as a coder and was in Tokyo Bay at the signing of the surrender.
In a letter dated February 14, 1999, Gordon wrote of his experiences in Japan:
After Japan surrendered a contingent from Gambia who along with US Forces immediately occupied Japanese Fortifications at Yokosuka and Yokohama before the US Fleet and elemented, only a few, from the British Pacific Fleet ventured into Tokyo Bay and in due course all anchored in the vicinity of Tokyo for the formal surrender ceremony on USS Missori. I was not one of that initial force. Following surrender Gambia and some Australian destroyers were despatched south to the Inland Sea to a city named Wakayama where they joined two American Hospital ships and elements of US 3rd Fleet. We were sent there to assist in the evacuation of about 2,500 prisoners of war. I was ashore there for a day or so as part of that relief force. Not long after that Gambia headed for home base at Philomel in Auckland from where I was discharged in 1946.
For his service he was awarded the 1939-1945 Star, Pacific Star, War Medal 1939-1945, and the New Zealand War Service Medal. After the war, Gordon Town was a clerk, Porirua City Council; Office manager, Brandons Solicitors Wellington; and became Senior investigating officer, Office of the Ombudsman.
Gordon passed away in 2011, aged 90.