50TH ANNIVERSARY OF ORDNANCE CORPS

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30913, 20 November 1965, Page 24

50TH ANNIVERSARY OF ORDNANCE CORPS

I J The Royal New Zealand t ; Army Ordnance Corps, the t ’ Army’s' stores organisation, c 1 will mark its 50th anniversary a by parades and social func- i 5 tions at ordnance depots and 1 units throughout New Zealand c ' at the week-end. a ; At Trentham Camp, site of <j 1 the largest ordnance warhouse r ' (the main ordnance depot), v ' and the Ordnance School, g 1 both serving and former mem- t ; bers of the corps will gather 1 ■ at a function presided over r by Lieutenant-Colonel H. ( 1 McK. Reid, colonel command- t - ant of the Ordnance Corps, r 1 and Lieutenant-Colonel E. W. Whiteacre, Director of Ord- t i nance Services. j : The Ordnance Corps, which J is responsible for the main- ( 1 tenance, storage, supply and I - continued replenishment of c 1 every article of equipment J • (excepting food, petrol and I - lubricants) used by the New r Zealand Army, originated with

the appointment of ammunition handlers in 1915. It became a Royal Corps in • 1947, and the Queen is the colonel-in-chief. Week-end functions will include a sports meeting, and a service and parade on Sunday. The quartermaster-gene-ral (Brigadier H. A. Purcell) will present long service and good conduct medals to Captain R. W. Wilkinson, second-in-command of the Main Ordnance Depot, and Lieutenant G. E. Butler, group officer of the artillery and camp equipment group. Official guests will include the Chief of the General Staff (Major-General W. S. McKinnon), the AdjutantGeneral (Brigadier A. H. Andrews) (a former Director of Ordnance Services) and Major K. M. Batters, of the Royal Australian Army Ordnance Corps.