Eric Boyce RANSOM

Service Number: NZ4211298
RNZAF Trade: Cook and Butcher
Date of Enlistment: 25th of September 1942
Rank Achieved:
Flying Hours: Nil
Operational Sorties: Nil

Date of Birth: 1st of November 1908, in Wanganui
Personal Details: Eric was the son of William Henry Ransom and Selena Jane Ransom (nee Pepperell). Before joining the RNZAF, Eric had been a tunneler at the Karapiro Dam Works, and lived there at Karapiro. It appears from the Electoral Roll he'd previously been living in the Rangatikei area in 1938.

On the 4th of December 1942 Eric was discovered in his home at Karapiro with a gunshot wound to the stomach. He was rushed to Waikato Hospital and he obviously made a recorvery. At this time, the circumstances are not known.

By the 1946 roll he was again registered as working with the Public Works Department at Karapiro Hydro Works. Around this time he went to No. 4 Camp, Lake Tekapo Hydro Works, as a cook. Later in life he worked as a carpenter.

Eric was married to Vera Gibson, and they had three children, Donald, Erica and three-year-old son William Andrew Ransom who was drowned in the Waikato River at Karapiro on the 17th of June 1942, three months before Eric joined the RNZAF.

Service Details: Eric joined the Air Force at RNZAF Station Harewood, Christchurch, as a Cook And Butcher, on the 25th of September 1942.

Date of Death: 16th of March 1968. aged 59, in Auckland
Interred at: Cremated and ashes scattered

Connection with Cambridge: Eric lived at Karapiro, Cambridge before, during and after his time in the RNZAF

Thanks To: Errol Martyn for his invaluable assistance with details on this page

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