Army’s oldest soldier to retire soon

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33373, 3 November 1973, Page 16

Army’s oldest soldier to retire soon

The oldest Regular Force soldier in the New Zealand Army, Major N. M. Laing, will leave the service next week although he does not officially retire until December 18, when he will be 55.

' The man who previously 1 held the title as the oldest 1 serving soldier was the former Chief of the General . Staff (Major-General L. A. ' Pearce), who retired earlier this year. , Major Laing is at the moment second in command of 1 the Christchurch Army Area. Major Laing will officially I be bidden farewell on Tues- ■ day by the commander of Home Command (Brigadier , L. Brooker) during his visit to Home Command units in . the area. Major Laing has the dist tinction of being one of the i first serving soldiers to be posted overseas on active I service in World War 11. In ■ late August, 1939, he was j one of 35 soldiers, sent in ■ H.M.S. Leander to protect II the cable station at Fan- : ning Island. War was declared while the party was on the water—from w'hich moment Major Laing was on active service. i He is also the only preworld War II Regular' Force soldier still serving in the South Island. Major Laing had enlisted

fjin 1934 in the North Auckland Regiment by giving an • incorrect age—he was 15 at il the time. He served with the • regiment for the next four Gyears before transferring to the then Territorial Force . Special Reserve. In 1939, he f joined the Regular Force infantry. f ‘ In April. 1940. he returned .■to New Zealand and was f posted to the Army School r at Trentham. He later ar-1 t rived in Christchurch as a' i private (acting sergeant) at the Southern District School . of Instruction. e' There followed several

I tours of duty as regimental sergeant-major with the I Otago Regiment, the Bth ; Reinforcements at Burnham, 'and at the Fiji Military (Forces School of Instructors. Major Laing was Commissioned in 1943, and served |as a company officer with the Fiji Military Forces. After a period in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands and ' the Solomon Islands, Major • Laing .went overseas again • with J. Force in 1947, and to Malaysia in 1959. Since 1962, -he has held a (number of appointments at ' Burnham Military Camp.