New Army appointment

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33083, 25 November 1972, Page 19

New Army appointment

Brigadier L. F. Brooker has been appointed Commander, Home Command, for the New Zealand Army in Wellington. He replaces Brigadier J. Bums, who has retired. Brigadier Brooker has been Assistant Chief of Defence Staff (Personnel) and AdjutantGeneral since 1970.

Bom in Rotorua, Brigadier Brooker graduated from the Royal Military College, Duntroon, in 1940. Before he attended the United Kingdom Staff College at Camberley in 1944, he was liaison offl? cer with the 3rd Division Tank Squadron in the Pacific. In 1945 he was posted to the 19th Armoured Regiment in Italy, and was subsequently Deputy Assistant Quartermaster-General on the headquarters of the 4th Armoured Brigade. He served on the headquarters staff of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan until late in 1946 when he returned to New Zealand. In 1952 Brigadier Brooker was appointed chief instructor at the school of armour, Waiouru, and. he became Director of the Royal New Zealand Armoured Corps at Army Headquarters in 1955, being appointed Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General at the end of the year. He was appointed Commander of the New Zealand Army Force, Far East, in 1960, and returned from Singapore in 1962 to become Colonel, General Staff. In 1965 he was appointed Deputy Chief of the General Staff, and in 1967 Commander of the Central Military District. In 1968 he became chairman of the Other Ranks Structure Study Group at the Defence Office.