Mervyn James Beauvais
Mervyn Beauvais
Mervyn was born on 27 February 1924 and lived in Ashburton, in the Canterbury Region, of South Island of New Zealand. He attended Allenton School and later Ashburton Technical School.
He was called to serve in the army on 28 April 1942, and shortly after asked to transfer to the navy with the service number NZ7980. He trained at Motuihe Island and HMNZS Philomel Auckland. Mervyn primarily served at HMS Assegai, a naval training base in South Africa. He was with HMNZS Gambia as an ordinary seaman before officially being assigned to the ship on 26 June 1944.
The ship saw action participating in several key battles and land bombardments against Japan. When the atomic bomb hit Hiroshima, the ship was in Japanese waters. Mervyn remained with the ship until being discharged from the navy in January 1946.
He felt very lucky to come back from war unscathed and often said how thankful he was to live a full and happy life. From his time on the Gambia and at the Assagai Shore Base in Durban, South Africa he made lifelong friends and rarely missed their annual reunions.
Before being enlisted, he was completing an apprenticeship as a bike mechanic working for Herb Money at Money's Cycle shop in the Triangle, Ashburton. After WWII Mervyn became a surveyor. He did his survey internship in Auckland. Once completed he moved down to Timaru and in the 1950's he moved back to Ashburton and set up his own business. He married Gwenyth Knox (nee Moore) in 1965.
Mervyn's daughter, Rose Webber said that "Dad was very friendly and sociable, a supremely honest, kind, intelligent man who had a lot of interests. His interests included mountaineering, photography, Jaycees, Clay bird shooting and the ex Royal Navalman's Association. He took a keen interest in current events and was very well read. He loved his surveying career and would talk about it endlessly."
Mervyn died on 23 September 2012, at Ashburton and was interned in the Returned Servicesmans Section of Ashburton New Lawn Cemetery.
The Ashburton Museum & Historical Society's Whakatere Heritage Collections Online website contains lots of material from Mervyn's life such as his letters, cuttings and photographs.
Mervyn Beauvais' Ashburton Museum & Historical Society's exhibit