Knight of Honour

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33121, 11 January 1973, Page 8

Knight of Honour

The Order of the Legion of Honour is the highest in France, and few foreigners are admitted to it. Dr L. C. L. Averill is one of the few New Zealanders to be made a Chevalier (knight) of this order—an honour that will be warmly applauded by New Zealanders who know more about his distinguished service to medicine and hospital administration than about his record as a soldier. Although the citation mentions only his valour in the assault on the town of Le Quesnoy in 1918—an exploit which earned him the British Military Cross—it goes without saying that Dr Averill, the New Zealand Rifle Brigade, and New Zealand are still gratefully remembered in Le Quesnoy.

The 1972 reunion of the brigade association—the last to be held, because of the dwindling numbers and advancing years of the surviving “ Dinks ’ —was attended by the French Ambassador to New Zealand (Mr Christian de Nicolay), on whose recommendation the award was made. The Ambassador evidently decided that France owed this tribute to Dr Averill, who had served as president of the association since its inception. The tribute is all the more gracious considering that New Zealand's recent official contacts with France have been rather less than cordial. France’s interests, more than those of any of the other five original members of the European Economic Community, were damaged by the concessions made to New Zealand before Britain's entry into the E.E.C. this month, and New Zealand has been in the vanguard of protesters against French nuclear testing in the Pacific.