A DISTINGUISHED SOLDIER

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 121, 18 November 1943, Page 5

A DISTINGUISHED SOLDIER

Brigadier Hargest was taken prisoner in the Libyan campaign in 1941 when his headquarters were overrun by German mechanised forces, and he was transferred along with other captured New Zealanders to a prison camp in Italy. About the end of March lie and Brigadier R. Miles, whose death in Spain was announced last month, escaped into Switzerland. Brigadier Hargest, who is member of Parliament for Awarua. was appointed to command the Fifth Infantry Brigade of the 2nd N.Z.E.F. in January,. 1940. He has had a distinguished military career, dating back to 1914. when he left New Zealand with the Main Body with the rank of second-lieutenant. He rose rapidly, and at the age of 26 was lieutenantcolonel in charge of Ihe 2nd Battalion of the Otago Regiment. For his service in the Greek and Cretan campaign in this war, Brigadier Hargest received the Greek Military Cross (first class) and a bar to his D.S.O. He also holds the cross of the Legion of Honour, awarded to him by the French Government in the last war. Tribute to Brigadier Hargest's military record in the last war was paid in the official history of the Otago Regiment, which stated: "In the course of his long connection with the regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Hargest, by his thoroughness, his soldierly ability and bearing, his great sense of military honour, and his extraordinary energy and dash in action, commanded the highest admiration and confidence of all ranks. . . ."