SERVICE IN TWO WARS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 287, 4 December 1941, Page 6

SERVICE IN TWO WARS

BRIGADIER HARGEST'S RECORD

Brigadier J. Hargest, D.5.0., M.C., i commander of the Fifth Infantry Brigade of the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force, who has been reported captured in Libya, distinguished himself in the Great War and also in the Greek campaign of the present war. For his services in Greece he received the Greek Military Cross (first class). Brigadier Hargest left New Zealand in 1914 as a second lieutenant with the main body. He gained rapid promotion until he received the rank of lieutenant-colonel in command of the Second Battalion of the ptafio Regiment. He was wounded in the Suvla Bay battle in August, 1915, but carried on , and was the only officer of his squadron to survive the attack. He was invalided home to New Zealand late in 1915. He went overseas again in 1916, rejoining the division in Egypt. He received the military cross and was promoted major. Later he was awarded the D.S.O. and the Cross of the Legion of Honour and was promoted lieutenant-colonel. On his return to New Zealand Brigadier Hargest was in the Rotorua Hospital for several months. Later he purchased a farm property at Rakauhauka. He commanded the the Southland Regiment for about six years and the Third Infantry Brigade for four years. He entered Parliament tn 1931, winning the Invercargill seat. He now represents Awarua. In 1917 he married Sister M. H. Wilkie of the New Zealand Army Nursing Staff.