In memory of Le Quesnoy's Kiwi saviours

Christchurch teenagers Rosie and Sam Averill will help mark the day – exactly 100 years ago – that their great-grandfather took the first steps towards the liberation of a small French town.

Leslie Averill was only a few years older than the pair when he became the first man to scale the ramparts of Le Quesnoy, climbing a precariously placed ladder to help surprise the German occupiers and seal a spot in the history of the Great War.

That brave act by 21-year-old Lieutenant Averill and his fellow New Zealand Division solders will be commemorated with the unveiling of a plaque in Christchurch’s Park of Remembrance on Sunday, 4 November at 5pm.

For many, it was a young nation’s finest hour of World War I.

Sam and Rosie Averill, the great-grandchildren of war hero Leslie Averill.

Both Rosie, 16, and her cousin, Sam, 15, are “very proud to have the Averill name”.

“We are both in awe of our great-grandfather,” Rosie says. “It must have been utterly terrifying, putting your life on the line to help free a town.”

For Sam, his great-grandfather’s feat is “incredibly impressive”.

“It’s cool that people think of my family name so highly, particularly in Le Quesnoy,” he says.

Both Rosie and Sam have visited the fortress town in northern France, and plan to return.

They view their trip to Le Quesnoy as a pilgrimage, “a rite of passage for all family members”.

“Imagine being there for the 150th anniversary,” says Rosie, who hopes to follow her great-grandfather into the medical profession.

On Sunday, Sam and Rosie will join Mayor Lianne Dalziel, Christchurch Memorial RSA Vice-President Jim Lilley, Lieutenant Colonel Kendall Langston and the Honorary Consuls for France, Martine Marshall-Durieux, and Belgium, Lieve Bierque, for the unveiling and tree planting.

However, 70 Averill family members will be in Le Quesnoy that day as the citizens remember the heroic actions of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade soldiers from the other side of the world.

Dr Leslie Averill with a painting of the surprise step to free Le Quesnoy.

While there was no loss of civilian life, 130 New Zealanders were killed in the push to free the town.

A century later, visitors can wander down Rue du Docteur Averill and past L’école maternelle du Docteur Averill.

Work is also under way to transform the former mayor’s residence in the town into a memorial museum commemorating New Zealand’s role in battles on the Western Front.

Leslie Averill – by then a well-known Christchurch doctor – often returned to the town.

Following the war, he had won a New Zealand Expeditionary Force scholarship to study medicine at the University of Edinburgh.

In 1926, Dr Averill was appointed as the first executive of St George’s Hospital in Christchurch, holding that role for more than 40 years. He would continue to introduce new ideas on surgery and patient care in Canterbury for many years.

In 1973, the French government made Dr Averill a Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur – one of the nation’s highest honours. He died in Christchurch on 4 June 1981, aged 84.