Dowding, Leonard

Leonard Rex Dowding was born in Waitara on 13 April 1918, the son of Francis and Margaret Dowding. He attended New Plymouth Boy's High School before joining the Army and being sent to the Middle East in 1940 as member of the 27 (Machine Gun) Battalion.

In March 1941 he sailed to Greece with the New Zealand Division. It was here on April 13 1941 he was killed by a bomb blast during a series of dive bombing attacks launched by the German Command.

His death was Waitara’s first recorded casualty of World War Two and he was one of the first New Zealand Army soldiers to be killed in Greece. His body was never recovered but his name is commemorated on the Athens Memorial, Phaleron War Cemetery, Greece and Waitara's Dowding Place was named in his memory.

Books

Lest we Forget, a tribute by New Plymouth Boy's High School, New Plymouth, to the 227 men of the School who died while serving their Country during the Second World War, 1939-1945, by Jack West, TRCT940.5467 WES