Charlie Appleton was born 14th July 1892 and was the 8th child of John and Joshephine Appleton. He had 6 brothers and 5 sisters. He grew up on the family farm in Opotiki Bay of Plenty. It is known that he was engaged before enlisting for the first world war. He was in the Auckland infantry battalion and left New Zealand on October 16th 1914 with the main body of the first New Zealand expeditionary force. On the morning of May 8th 1915 he was KIA as the Aucklanders charged into enemy machine gun fire across the infamous daisy patch

Patrick Long