Cyril Bassett
He served on the Home Front and by the time he was taken off active duty in December 1943, he had been promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel and was commander of signals in the Northern Military District.[3] When the First World War broke out in the summer of 1914, it was Bassett's intention to join the Royal Navy, but his mother, whose family had a history of service in the British Army, convinced him to enlist in the New Zealand Military Forces.Initially based in Egypt, after a period of training, he landed at ANZAC Cove on 25 April 1915, the opening day of the Gallipoli campaign.In August 1915, a series of offensives against Turkish positions along the Gallipoli front was planned to break the stalemate that had developed since the initial landing.[3] Working on the exposed slopes leading up to Chunuk Bair, he braved continuous gunfire during this time armed with only a revolver and a bayonet.[1] After the battle, Basset's name, along with those of the other five signallers of his section, was collected by Major Arthur Temperley of brigade headquarters, who nominated Bassett to receive the Victoria Cross (VC).After the New Zealand Infantry Brigade had attacked and established itself on the ridge, Corporal Bassett, in full daylight and under a continuous and heavy fire, succeeded in laying a telephone line from the old position to the new one on Chunuk Bair.[3] He was wounded twice while on the Western Front;[1] the first occasion was in October 1917,[10] and the second was during the German spring offensive in March 1918, when an artillery barrage destroyed the headquarters of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade, where he was the signals officer.[2] Called up for the National Military Reserve as a result of the outbreak of the Second World War, Bassett was placed on active duty in 1941 as a captain in the Royal New Zealand Corps of Signals (RNZSigs).[14] He died at Stanley Bay, in Auckland, on 9 January 1983, shortly after his 91st birthday;[2] his ashes were buried at North Shore Memorial Park.
Mount EdenAucklandColony of New ZealandStanley BayNew ZealandNew Zealand Military ForcesLieutenant-ColonelFirst World WarGallipoli CampaignBattle of Chunuk BairWestern FrontBattle of the SommeGerman spring offensiveSecond World WarVictoria CrossEmpireNew Zealand Expeditionary ForceTerritorial Forcesappersecond lieutenantlieutenant coloneljustice of the peaceDevonportAuckland Grammar SchoolAuckland Technical CollegeNational Bank of New ZealandRoyal NavyBritish ArmyCorps of New Zealand EngineersMiddle Eastlanded at ANZAC CoveNew Zealand and Australian DivisioncorporalTurkishattacked Chunuk BairWellington Infantry BattaliondysenteryBritish EmpireKing George VBuckingham PalaceNew Zealand DivisionNew Zealand Rifle BrigadeBrigadier-GeneralHarry FultonMilitary CrossPaeroaSt David's ChurchNational Military ReservecaptainRoyal New Zealand Corps of SignalsQueen Elizabeth II Coronation MedalAuckland War Memorial Museumpine treeBattle of Lone PineRoyal New Zealand Returned and Services' AssociationANZ BankANZAC DayDictionary of New Zealand BiographyMinistry for Culture and HeritageThe London GazetteThe New Zealand HeraldHarper, GlynMcGibbon, Ian