ARMY GENERAL STAFF
DEPUTY CHIEF APPOINTED (P.A.) WELLINGTON, This Day. The Minister of Defence, the Hon. P. Jones, has approved of the appoint-, ment of Colonel Leonard Whitmore Thornton, N.Z.A., 0.8. E., to the position of Deputy-Chief of the General Staff. He' succeeds' Colonel J. I. Brooke, who becomes Director of Cadets .and Rifle Clubs. Colonel Thornton’s rise to prominence in the army has been meteoric, and at the age of 31 he is probably the youngest deputy-chief in the history of the New Zealand Army. He was with the Fourth and Fifth Field r Regiment of the Second N.Z.E.F. during the war, serving in Greece, the Western Desert and Italy, and in June. 1945, was appointed to the command of the artillery of the Second N.Z.E.F., with the temporary rank of brigadier. At the conclusion of the war he was appointed commander of the 8.C.0.F. sub-area of Tokio. and on his return to New Zealand became director' of operations and intelligence.
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Ashburton Guardian, Volume 68, Issue 145, 1 April 1948, Page 6
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162ARMY GENERAL STAFF Ashburton Guardian, Volume 68, Issue 145, 1 April 1948, Page 6
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