Edwin James Howell (SN 474) was born and educated at Dunedin in New Zealand. He was a 28 year old married piano tuner when he enlisted in Ballarat on February 26th 1916. He joined the 39th Infantry Battalion and departed Australia in late May on board the Ascanius. In November 1916 he reached the battlefields of France, serving with the 39th Battalion and the 10th Light Trench Mortar Battery. In May 1917 he received a gunshot wound to his right arm but rejoined his unit a month later. Only a few weeks later, he was killed in the fighting around Messines, Belgium, on July 31st 1917. He has no known grave, his record stating that 'it is thought that he was buried where he fell', but his name is recorded on the Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Belgium.

Image courtesy of Toitū Otago Settlers Museum, Dunedin, NZ