R.S.A. GOLD STAR

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28399, 4 October 1957, Page 19

R.S.A. GOLD STAR

Five Awards By N.Z. Association

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, October 3. Five men who have given long and outstanding service to the New Zealand Returned Services’ Association have been honoured by the Dominion executive committee with the association’s gold star badge and certificate of merit. They are Messrs A. T. Turner, C. R. Wilson, and E. F. Willcox, of Wellington, H. J. Laurent, V.C., of Hawera, and A. S. Wilder, of Waipukurau. Mr Turner, who served in the Middle East and the Pacific, is the only World War II former serviceman to be awarded this honour. He has been a member of the association since 1944, and from 1946 to 1948 was president of the Wellington branch. He has been a member of the Dominion executive committee since 1947, and last year represented the association at the annual meeting of the Australian Returned Services’ League.

Mr Wilson, a member of the Rehabilitation Board, won the D.M.C. in World War I at the age of 18. He has been a key worker in formulating the association’s land settlement policy, and has made a major contribution to the successful rehabilitation of thousands of returned man on the land.

Mr Willcox was secretary of the Christchurch association from 1926 to 1944, when he was appointed the New Zealand association's representative on the War Pensions Board, a position he still holds. He is a member of the Dominion executive committee and takes a keen interest in the Northland sub-branch of the Wellington association. Mr Laurent who won the V.C. in France in World War L has been a member of the South Taranaki association since 1919, being president on two occasions. He has taken a special interest in rehabilitation work and is also keenly interested in the boy scout movement.

Mr Wilder, D. 5.0., M.C.. served in both world wars and is one of the best-known residents in the Wairarapa. where he has taken a keen interest in the rehabilitation of returned men and also in the welfare of patients at the Pukeora Sanatorium. He has been president of the Waipukurau association since 1944.