BATTALION HISTORY

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31345, 15 April 1967, Page 20

BATTALION HISTORY

Hobby Project Of CO. A comprehensive, if brief, history of the 2nd Battalion, Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment, is at present being written. The history Is not intended as a commercial proposition but will mainly be for serving soldiers. The author of the history is the battalion’s commanding officer (Colonel E. G. Latter) who is compiling it in his spare time. He began the job about 12 months ago. In January, 1964, the Can. terbury, Nelson, Marlborough and West Coast Regiments combined to form the 2nd Battalion, R.N.ZXR. Colonel Utters’ Intention is to write a history of the military activities of all four districts. Canterbury military history is fairly well recorded and Colonel Utter's assistants in Nelson have managed to trace much of the early history of that area. Recently a senior non-commissioned officer has been on the West Coast seeking Information about military history before 1868. The second in command of the battalion (Major E. V. Braggins) said a draft history of the unit (covering 18 foolscap pages) had been produced.

This has been circulated to committees in Ashburton, Timaru, Christchurch, Blenheim, Nelson and Greymouth whose job it will be to do local research to fill in some of the gaps. Major Braggins explained that the original regiments each had histories which should be recorded so that soldiers today and in the future would be aware of the more than 100 years of military tradition behind them.