LORD BIRDWOOD’S DEATH
MESSAGE OF SYMPATHY ACKNOWLEDGED (New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, June 6. In a letter written in reply to a message of sympathy sent on the occasion of the death of Field-Marshal Lord Birdwood by Mr A. J. Riddell, of the Armed Forces Canteen Council, Mrs R. P. Messel, Lord Birdwood’s daughter, says: “You will, I think, like to know that his pall-bearers were three New Zealand officers and three Australian officers. My brother and 1 both knew it would be his wish that some of his beloved Anzacs should be there beside him.
“We have received many tributes, letters, and flowers from New Zealand and Australia, and they have helped us a great deal and given us very great pride. I sincerely hope that our family’s association with New Zealand and the Anzacs will always continue—indeed, the very title ‘Birdwood of Anzac,’ which my father bore and which gave him more pleasure and of which he was more proud than any other honour he had, is a title my brother and his son after him will, I know, value above all.”
The pall-bearers at Lord Birdwood’s funeral, says the information section of the United Kingdom High commissioner’s Office, were Brigadier G. H. Clifton, Major R. F. A. Holloway, and Major P. J. Aitken, representing the New Zealand Forces, and Brigadier H. G. Harlock, LieutenantColonel S. J. Hill, and Major K. J Jones, representing the Australian Forces.
LORD BIRDWOOD’S DEATH
Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26441, 7 June 1951, Page 2
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