Now, as I research our genealogy and preserve these stories for Athol’s great-great-grandchildren—my children—I do so with a sense of honour and responsibility. They will grow up knowing they descend from a man of courage, duty, and love. A man who helped build the world around him and then gave his life trying to protect it.

You are remembered, Great-Granddad Athol.
You are missed by those who never had the chance to know you.
And your story—your legacy—lives on.

with the birth of their son, Owen Leslie Forsyth, in 1935. They were a young family with a life ahead of them—but the world had other plans.

Athol enlisted in the Second World War with the New Zealand Engineers, 19 Army Troops Company. As Corporal, Service No. 32266, he served with honour in the Western Desert. On 24 December 1940, just before Christmas, he was killed in action by enemy aircraft. He was only 32.

His passing had a profound and lasting effect on his son, Owen—my grandfather—who was just a little boy when he lost his father. That loss cast a shadow across his life, shaping the man he would become. Owen followed in his father’s footsteps in his own way, serving in the Royal New Zealand Navy and carrying the memory of his father’s sacrifice quietly but deeply throughout his life.

Now, as I research our genealogy and preserve these stories for Athol’s great-great-grandchild

In Loving Memory of Corporal Athol Henry Forsyth
By his great-granddaughter, for his great-great-grandchildren

I never had the chance to know my great-grandfather, Corporal Athol Henry Forsyth, but his presence echoes through our family still. Though his life was cut short by war, his legacy lives on—in the land he helped shape, in the family he loved, and in the quiet strength passed down through generations.

Athol was born in 1908 to Harry Forsyth and Eva Noble, and raised in the close-knit community of Otakou. He attended Otakou School and later found work with the electrical supply authorities in the North Island. Returning to Otago, he joined the Otago Harbour Board, contributing to vital infrastructure projects like the North Spit moleworks in 1927 and the Leith Canal Works from 1935.

In 1934, he married Mabel Leslie at Columbia Church in Oamaru. Their joy was complete with the