New Zealand’s last surviving veteran of the Battle of Crete during World War II has died at the age of 104.
According to the Otago Daily Times, Cyril Henry Brant Robinson, known as Brant, passed away at Whangamata Moana House retirement home on Sunday.
Former president of the NZ Battle of Crete Association, Paul London, believes that Brant was the last Kiwi veteran of the Battle of Crete.
Who was Staff Sergeant Brant?
Staff Sergeant Brant arrived on Crete in 1941 with the advance party to set up camp and was captured by the rampaging Germans on June 1, 1941 at Souda Bay.
Force-marched for days without food and little water, he was kept in a POW camp on Crete for seven weeks before being taken to Nazi Germany.
He was imprisoned at Stalag VIII-B Lamsdorf, before being moved to Stalag 8B Teschen for three months, then Stalag 383 Hohenfels.
By early 1945, Brant was one of thousands of men forced to march west on the Death March Across Germany. He was finally liberated by advancing American troops.
Source: Otago Daily Times.
