George Beazley

Private 801667 · D Company, 28th (Māori) Battalion · Jayforce, Japan

Early life

George Beazley was married and working as a farm hand when he enlisted, giving an address in Kingsland, Auckland, while his wife, Mrs M. Beazley, was at Paraparaumu. He is very probably George Hori Beazley, known as Hori, who was born at Pakōtai in the Mangakahia Valley, Northland, on 12 December 1924, the son of Alfred William Beazley and Ani (Wana) Kawhena Beazley.

War

George sailed with D Company in 1945, aged 20, and reached Italy after the fighting had ended. He then went on to Japan with Jayforce. An older Beazley, Bob, was already serving with the battalion in the Middle East by 1943 and was probably his brother. George Hori Beazley died on 3 January 2008, aged 83, and is buried at Awa Tapu Cemetery, Paraparaumu.

Sources

Online Cenotaph C117458; FamilySearch; whakapapaonline; Ngata’s 1943 nominal roll (Mataia, ‘Odd men from the Pacific’, 2007).

Are you whānau? If you can add to his story, correct anything here or share a photograph, please get in touch.