

Former Tauranga District High School student Gilbert Henry Collins was reported missing during World War II on 13 December 1941.
Gilbert Henry Collins was born in Ireland on 27 September 1918.
He gained his 6th Standard Certificate from Tauranga District High School.
Gilbert worked as a dry cleaner/presser. He enlisted from 81 Morris Street in Tauranga on 4 July 1940, embarking for Egypt on 7 April 1941.
On 13 December 1941 he was reported missing, believe to be a prisoner of war. Later reports from the Geneva Red Cross confirmed that he had lost his life in the Western Desert on 30 December 1941.
Gilbert is remembered in Tauranga's Memorial Grove, two rows of totara trees located on Fifteenth Avenue which stand as a memorial to 41 former Tauranga District High School students killed during World War II (1939-1945).
Sources:
Births, Deaths and Marriages Online (New Zealand).
Reunion leads to hunt for war dead - research by Betty Eaton-Woodcock (Bay of Plenty Times, 25 April 2011, pp. 10-11).
Year: | 1941 |
Note: | Service Number: 62404 |
First Names: | Gilbert Henry |
Last Name: | Collins |
Date of Birth: | 27 September 1918 |
Country of birth: | Ireland |
Date of death: | 30 November 1941 |
Place of death: | Western Desert, North Africa, Africa |
Place of burial: | Knightsbridge War Cemetery, Acroma, Libya |
Occupation: | Dry Cleaner/Presser |
Fathers name: | Joseph Collins |
Mothers name: | Mary Margretta Collins |
Military Service: | World War II (1939-1945) |