Leslie George Fletcher was born in Waitara on 18 March 1924, the second son George Harry Fletcher (1886-1959) and Annie Fletcher (nee Wright) (1888-1927). Sadly, Leslie’s mother Annie died when he was still a toddler, leaving her husband to raise five children on his own.
Leslie was a reservist working in his father’s butcher shop in Waitara when he was mobilised for home service during the Second World War in March 1945. Leslie’s older brother Arthur Stanley Fletcher (1920-2016) was a Trooper with the 4th Armoured Tank Brigade but their father George appears to have successfully appealed on Leslie’s behalf, presumably as he had already lost Arthur’s help in the family store.
George had served with the New Zealand Medical Corps in France during the First World War and remained an active member of the Returned Soldiers’ Association in Waitara, raising funds and organising welcomes for local soldiers when they came home.
Leslie took over the family business after the war. He married Dorothy Elizabeth Freakley (1926-2005) in 1946 and the couple had five daughters. Leslie died in Auckland on 14 April 1995 at the age of 71 and is buried in Waitara Cemetery.
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