WARRANT OFFICER HONOURED

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23752, 25 September 1942, Page 3

WARRANT OFFICER HONOURED

LONG SERVICE MEDAL SERGEANT-MAJOR A. L. EMERSON One of the best known New Zealand Permanent Staff warrant officers in Canterbury, Sergeant-Major A. L. Emerson, has been awarded the New Zealand Long Service and Good Conduct Medal for 20 years’ service in the New Zealand Military Forces. A veteran of the South African War and the Great War, Sergeant-Major Emerson is now area quartermaster at King Edward Barracks. He has served in the New Zealand Permanent Staff since 1920, being stationed on the West Coast, in Wellington, and in Christchurch. Sergeant-Major Emerson began his military career in 1898 as a volunteer in the Queen’s Rifles at Oamaru. He left for South Africa in 1901 with the Otago Mounted Rifles as a member of the Bth Contingent, and served in Cape Colony, the Orange Free State, the Transvaal, and Bechuanaland. In the closing stages of the war he took part in the drives against the elusive Boer commandos which carried on guerrilla warfare after the defeat of the main forces in battle. When peace was declared, SergeantMajor Emerson joined the South African Forces as he wished to see something of the country. On the,outbreak of the Great War in 1914 he was stationed in Johannesburg, and he served in the forces, operating under General Smuts, which quelled the rebellion led by Generals Beyers and De Wet. In these operations Sergeant-Major Emerson saw service in the Eastern Transvaal, mostly round Pretoria and Bronkhorstspruit, and then served with the forces in South-West Africa until the capitulation of the German forces. With other New Zealanders he then returned to New Zealand, and enlisted in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. He served in France and Belgium, and was with the Army of Occupation, being among the last New Zealanders to leave Cologne after demobilisation. On his return he joined the New Zealand Permanent Staff. Sergeant-Major Emerson was well known in peace time as an instructor of secondary school cadets. When this war started he was associated with the training of units of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force at a South Island military camp. He is also well known for his work as a member of the executive of the Christchurch Returned Services’ Association, of which he has been a member for 14 years, and is a member of the South African War Veterans’ Association. He holds the Meritorious Service Medal in addition to his South African and Great War medals.