Richard Alexander Henderson

Private Richard Alexander Henderson MM (26 August 1895 – 14 November 1958) was a school-teacher who served with the New Zealand Medical Corps at the Battle of Gallipoli. Like John Simpson Kirkpatrick, he used a donkey to carry wounded soldiers from the battlefield. He was later honoured with a Military Medal for repeatedly rescuing wounded from the battlefield while under heavy fire at the Battle of the Somme.

Early life Henderson was born on 26 August 1895 at Waihi in the North Island of New Zealand. He was a trainee teacher in Auckland until the outbreak of the First World War. On 10 August 1914, he enlisted with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) as a stretcher-bearer in the New Zealand Medical Corps.