A coach builder by trade, Bill Stormont was a reluctant soldier. His papers show that he had a series of run-ins with military authorities. For hesitating to obey an order in August 1917 he was confined to barracks for seven days. Within weeks he was in trouble again.
The most serious charge was desertion when on active service, accused of going AWOL to avoid sailing to war with the troops. A court martial in October 1917 sentenced him to 56 days' detention and loss of pay for two weeks, an order confirmed by the commander of the NZ military forces, Sir Alfred Robin. The court suspended the punishment to give Stormont the chance to pack his kit with the rest of the reinforcements - an option the 20-year-old embraced.
Stormont sailed on December 31, 1917, to Britain and disembarked in Glasgow with the Otago Regiment.
Stormont was troubled by ill health. He was hospitalised with the flu, and his feet, which caused him problems during his training, played up again. He reported they swelled after parade ground duties, and eventually he had an operation to relieve the discomfort.
Bunions also caused trouble, and his papers record that he was issued a pair of special boots to solve his problems.
Stormont got to the front in the middle of 1918 with a machine gun unit. There is nothing in his file to indicate any further trouble.
By the middle of 1919, Stormont was back in Auckland.
Away from the war, his health recovered and by 1920, Bill Stormont, by then an established prop for the Auckland Marist club, was selected for the New Zealand league team. He played three tests against the visiting England side and scored a try for Auckland in the province's 24-16 defeat of the tourists - a victory achieved, according to one report, by "beer truck forwards and racing car backs".
Stormont played five seasons with Marist, and turned out for the last time for a game against the City club on May 30, 1925. Five days later he died of rheumatic heart disease, which his family attributes to rheumatic fever contracted during his service in France.
His father-in-law Jack Batt wrote in a letter that the popular Stormont had a large funeral with loads of wreaths.
Bill Stormont left a wife and two young children.
His daughter Anne was the wife of Dr Leo Cooney, NZ Rugby League president from 1961-69.
To read the other 92 stories click here.
