Joseph Edward GANLEY
Known to all as Ed or Eddie

Service Number: NZ4310282
RNZAF Trade: Aircraft Handler (General Duties)
Date of Enlistment:1943
Rank Achieved: Leading Aircraftsman
Flying Hours: nil
Operational Sorties: nil

Date of Birth: 11th of August 1910, at Thames
Personal Details: The son of Walter Joseph Ganley and Emily Maude Ganley, Ed spent most of his youth at Kiwitahi, and he was educated at Kiwitahi school. On leaving school he began working at the Morrinsville Post Office, until his parents moved to the Cambridge district to a farm at Karapiro. Ed moved with them, and he worked on the farm till he went into the Army. He married Reimi Esme Miller (known as Esme) on the 28th of March 1937. After the war Ed returned to Cambridge and took up work as a linesman with the Cambridge Post Office, and he worked there for 29 years. At one point postwar Ed also served on the executive committee of the Cambridge Returned Services Association. He was active in Care and Craft at the Cosmopolitan Club in leamington from its inception. And he was the vice-president of the Indoor Blind Bowlers.

Ed Ganley was the cousin of Cambridge airman Trevor Ganley.

Service Details: Ed originally joined the New Zealand Army, where he trained at Papakura and then Linton. However he was not in the Army for very long before he switched to the RNZAF. He became an ACH (GD) by trade, which meant he served in a variety of roles in various workplaces. One of these roles was cooking in the messhalls, but he also spent a lot of time in workshops performing mechanical tasks.

Ed was extremely keen on everything mechanical so these duties would have suited him down to the ground. In his spare time he made several souviners out of spent shell cases, including egg cups and vases which he brought home.

He served within New Zealand and also in the Pacific, at Espirtu Santos and at Guadalcanal.

Details of Death: Died 4th of August 1988, aged 77 years
Buried at: Hautapu Cemetery , Cambridge (RSA Cemetery Plot: 137B)

Connection with Cambridge: Ed Ganley was a resident in the Cambridge disrict before joining the RNZAF.

Thanks To: Ed's widow Mrs Esme Ganley for the above information.

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