Before the outbreak of the Second World War, Barndt Mattson was a merchant seaman. He signed up with the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy as a Reservist in August 1940. As his first posting was as an oil burner on HMS Muritai, a merchant vessel requisitioned for military service, it is likely he was already working aboard the vessel and was signed on by the Navy in order to retain its civilian crew. HMS Muritai was commissioned as a minesweeper and operated out of Wellington.
Mattson became a Stoker in 1941 before being posted to Auckland aboard HMS Puriri, another requisitioned vessel. HMS Puriri was part of the 25th Minesweeping Flotilla carrying out routine sweeping patrols between Auckland and Whangarei.
Mattson was one of five crew lost at sea when HMS Puriri struck a mine off Bream Head in the Hauraki Gulf in 1941. Puriri was the only naval loss in New Zealand waters during the Second World War. Mattson’s memorial cross was turned into a brooch and worn by his mother.
The New Zealand Memorial Cross is awarded to the next of kin of all New Zealand servicemen and women who were killed, while on war service or operational service overseas in the Second World War. It is also awarded to the next of kin of those who subsequently died of wounds received while on war service, or operational service overseas, since the commencement of the Second World War. For deaths during the Second World War the first cross was awarded in the late 1940s or the 1950s to the mother. If the mother was deceased, the first cross was awarded to the father, or if he was also deceased, to the eldest sister, or the eldest brother if the military service person had no living sisters. A second cross was awarded to the widow, eldest daughter or eldest son (in that order of precedence). If the deceased military service person was not married, and had no children, only one Memorial Cross was issued. It is worn on a purple ribbon around the neck.
