COLONEL FREYBERG

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 148, 19 March 1931, Page 9

COLONEL FREYBERG

New Military Appointment BRILLIANT ARMY CAREER By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright. (Rec. March 18, 5.5 p.m.) London, March 18. Lieutenant-Colonel B. C. Freyberg, V.C., has been promoted to colonel as from March 6 with seniority from January 1,1922. He has been appointed Assistant Quartermaster-General of the Southern Command.

Bernard Cyril Freyberg was 23 years old when he found himself in command of the Hood Battalion of the Royal Navy Division on the Somme in November, 1916. He was well worthy of his re-

—S. P. Andrew, photo. sponsible post, for he had to his credit a brilliant record of service throughout the war and had proved himself m many a hazardous enterprise to bo a born leader of men. Born in Wellington, he had, while still in his 'teens, won fame in the Dominion and in Australia as an exceptionally fine athlete.' He stands six feet in his socks and is broad-chested and powerful in proportion. . Football, rowing, swimming and boxing, all sports came easily to this young Samson. But his restless spirit craved for more excitement than the playing field of the Dominion could give him. He wandered from New Zealand to America in search of adventure, and finally drifted to Mexico, where he fought in the Civil War. When the war cloud burst over Europe in the summer of 1914 he lost no time in sailing for England. Joining the Royal Navy Division he accompanied it to Antwerp, where he was wounded in the hand. That was only the beginning of a career of rapid promotion. When his battalion was sent to the Dardanelles Freyberg was already a lieutenant-commander. At Gallipoli he won high honour for his wonderful qualities of grit and endurance, and about 18 months later he won the Victoria Cross during the attack on the village of Beaucourt in the Battle of the Somme.