DEATH IN ACTION

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 277, 19 August 1944, Page 8

DEATH IN ACTION

Brigadier Hargest Killed By Shell LOSS TO COUNTRY

An announcement that Brigadier J. Hargest, D. 8.0., M.C.. member of Parliament for Awarua, has been killed in action in Normandy, was made by the Prime Minister, Mr. Fraser, in the House of Representatives just before it adjourned last night at 5.30. . He ..stud Brigadier Hargest had been riding in a jeep along a road in Ncwmandy when a shell burst alongside it and he was killed. . „ Speaking with emotion, Mr. I’ raser 'said it was with a very deep sense of regret and a heavy burden of sorrow thiw ho had to announce the death of one of the members of the House, Brigadier Hargest. He felt it was due to members, of whom a great number were personal friends of Brigadier Hargest that they should be told before the House rose. There would be an opportunity when the House met next week for himself and other speakers to express regret and sympathy with Mrs. Hargest aud family. The Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Holland, said that the announcement ot the death of Brigadier Hargest had come as a great shock to every member of the House, and also would cause sorrow to every person in New Zealand when it. became known. It had shocked them as nothing else could have done at present. He felt a deep personal grief. His heart was too full to speak then, but he would take the opportunity next week to pay tribute to a very gallant soldier, close personal friend, staunch colleague, and thorou'gh gentleman. “I pray God may comfort, his sorrowing family,” said Mr. Holland.

In a statement issued subsequently, the Prime Minister said the news bad been conveyed to him in a personal message from General Sir Richard O’Connor, with whom Brigadier Hargest was serving, and with whom he was linked by ties of close personal friendship. He did not think he could make known the circumstances of this tragic loss better than by quoting General O’Connor’s generous tribute: — “Dear Mr. Fraser, —I learned this morning with the very deepest sorrow of the death of Jim Hargest. I know well that his loss will be felt all over New Zealand, and to you personally. For myself I feel I have lost one of my very best friends, and I know my family will be stricken when they learn the news. I will write to his wife, but I felt J. must write to you immediately to tell you what great and real loss his death will be. It only occurred about six o’clock yesterday evening, almost immediately after he returned to the Fiftieth Division. Apparently he was driving down the road in bis jeep, and a shell fell on the road and o'n his side. He was killed. The driver, I think, was all right. “I look back with such pleasure on that afternoon when we all had tea together, and it seems desperate that a man of such high and noble character should be now dead. His life is a reap example of unselfishness and self-sacrifice, and I feel sure he would have chosen no other way of dying. I hope when this is over that some day I may have a chance of meeting you again, and in the meantime will you kindly convey my deepest condolences to Mrs. Hargest, and tell her that I will very shortly write to her.” Man and Soldier. “The admiration which I have always felt for Brigadier'Hargest as a man and a soldier,” said Mr. Fraser, “was increased still further as I listened during the course of our first meeting in London to the extraordinary stories of his escape, first from a prison camp in Italy and later from Switzerland into Spain. He revealed during those adventurous feats all those qualities of tenacity of purpose, resourcefulness, courage, humanity, and strength, which made him always whrft he was, a very gallant soldier, a true comrade, and a great leader of men. His loss is a severe blow to Parliament and to New Zealand. His magnificent record’ in two wars would have inclined most men to the view that they had done enough, but not so Brigadier Hargest. As soon as he recovered from the exhausting experiences of his final escape, he wanted a new job as close to the fighting line as he could obtain. ( “It was arranged by the New Zealand Government that he should be attached to a British Division of the invasion forces as New Zealand army observer. It would not have been expected in a liaison job like that this that he would be exposed to. undue risk, yet within a few days of bis landing in Normandy he was wounded at first slightly, and then more seriously. During this period lie also succeeded in capturing with the aid of his driver 30 German prisoners. Last month he went back to England to recuperate from his wounds, and apparently had only just returned to the front when he was killed. “His untimely death is all the more tragic because arrangements had been made while I was in London and conlirmed.since I returned for his appointment as officer in charge of repatriation of New Zealand prisoners of war in Ihe United Kingdom. He was to have taken over Ibe duties of his new position on September 1. I had assumed that it would not be necessary for him to return to France before taking up this work, “Reference will be made in the House of Representatives next week to the details of Brigadier Hargest’s outstanding military record,” added the Prime Minister, “ft is sufficient at present to refer to his well-earned promotion from second lieutenant to lieutenant-colonel in the last war when he was awarded the D.S.O. and the M.G. and the Cross of the Legion of Honour, and in this war to his command of the Fifth Infantry Brigade from its formation, and the part he. played in the Greece and Crete campaigns and in the Libyan campaign till his capture. “His splendid services were recognized by the award of two bars to his D.S.O. and a C.B.E. Now Zealand has indeed lost one of Us finest sons, whose record in arms and in public service will always be an inspiration,” said Mr. Fraser. “It can truly be said of him that lie died as he would have wished, fighting in the service of the country lie loved and the cause lie believed in. with a fervour and devotion that animated every thought and action. That will always be a cherished memory of those who knew him. His loss will be widely mourned throughout Now Zealand and overseas, by all who know and honoured him. by Parliament and the Army and by other fighting forces in the Dominion and abroad. Particularly will onr New Zealand Division in Italy and Egypt, deeply mourn his loss. 'Hie deep ami heartfelt sympathy of the Government and people will go on I’ to Mrs. Hargest, who hits to bear the heavy grievous loss of her gallant and distinguished husband, and also that of their brave son who lost his life serving with the New Zealand Division, during the Cassino campaign earlier this year."