MORE AWARDS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 8, 11 January 1944, Page 3

MORE AWARDS

NEW YEAR HONOURS

NON-COMBATANT SERVICES

The Prime Minister (Mr. Fraser) has received advice from the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs that his Majesty the King has been pleased to approve of the following appointments:—'

Companion of the Order of the Bath (C.8.).

Brigadier William George Stevens, C.B.E. (Wadestown).

Commanders of the *< Order of the British Empire (C.8.E.). Colonel James Roberts Boyd, M.C. (Melling, Lower Hutt). The Rt. Rev. Bishop George Vincent Gerard, M.C. (Napier).

Officers of the Order of the British

Empire (0.8. E.). "Lieutenant-Colonel Eardley Lorimer Button (Wellington). Lieutenant-Colonel James Ferris Fuller (Anderson's Bay, Dunedin).

Members of the Order of the British Empire (M.8.E.). David Adamson

Major (Ngaio).

Clarke

Major (Karori) Major Donald Stuart Gore Marchbanks (Heretaunga, Wellington).

Alban Vincent

Knapp

Member of the Royal Red Cross (R.R.C.).

Matron Doris Irene Brown, A.R.R.C (Tauwhero, Hamilton).

Associate of the Royal Red Cross

(A.R.R.C.).

Sister Edith Jo Wilson (Timaru). BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES.

Brigadier Stevens, who was born in London in 1893, served with the N.Z.E.F. in the last war. In 1929 he was appointed / Officer Commanding Royal New Zealand Artillery, Central Command, and was stationed at Palmerston North. In 1931 he was transferred to Wellington, and given command of the General Headquarters Training Depot at Trentham, relinquishing this appointment in November, 1936. Early in the following year he left New Zealand to spend three months in Australia on exchange. Returning to New Zealand he • was seconded for duty to the Prime Minister's Department as Secretary of the Organisation for National Security and Secretary of the Council of Defence, with the rank of Lieut-Colonel. Shortly after the outbreak of war, he proceeded to England with the Acting Prime Minister. In January, 1940, he was appointed Assistant Adjutant and QuartermasterGeneral with the Headquarters of the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force, and was promoted Colonel in the Expeditionary Force in July of that year. In April, 1941, he was mentioned in dispatches and was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (Military Division) (C.8.E.), for distinguished service in the Middle East. He became -a Brigadier 'in June, 1941. In August, 1942, Brigadier Stevens was appointed Commandant, Maadi Camp, in addition to his other appointment. The Right Rev. Bishop G. V. Gerard, M.C;, later. Senior Anglican Chaplain (2nd N.Z.E.F.), was consecrated Bishop of Waiapu in 1938. He was mentioned in dispatches in December, 1941. In January, 1942, he was captured by the enemy and was interned in Italy, but was repatriated in April, 1943. At present he is overseas with the 2nd N.Z.E.F. in the Pacific. Colonel James Roberts Boyd, M.C. r was born in September, 1886. He served in both England and France in the last war, and gained the Military Cross while in France for conspicuous gallantry in rescuing some men who had been buried in their dug-out. He assisted in digging them out, although temporarily disabled by earth, thrown up by a bursting shell, and finally brought in one man alive. Returning to New Zealand in 1916, he resumed his medical practice until July. 1917, when he left for Egypt and Palestine with the rank of captain. He returned to New Zealand on sick leave in 1918 and was struck off strength. Recalled from the Retired List following the outbreak of the present war, he was appointed to command a Medical Division of No. 1 General Hospital in the rank of Major. He was promoted Lieutenant-Colonel in November, 1940, and Colonel in May, 1942. Lieutenant-Colonel Eardley Lorimer Button was commissioned as Lieutenant and posted to the Second Field Ambulance in June, 1933, and promoted Captain three years later. He left New Zealand with the Expeditionary Force in February, 1940, as ya Major, and was attached to No. 1 General Hospital. He was given command of No. 4 General Hospital in July, 1540, j and relinquished this appointment in March, 1941, to become Officer Commanding, Surgical Division, No. 3 General Hospital. He was promoted Lieu-tenant-Colonel in February, 1942.

Lieutenant-Colonel James Ferris Fuller gained his commission while Regimental Sergeant-Major of the Otago University Medical Company in August, 1935. He was posted to the Second N.Z.E.F. in October, 1939, and left for overseas as Assistant Director of Dental Services with the rank of Captain. He was pr<snoted Maj<9r in June, 1940, and Lieutenant-Colonel in July, 1941. He returned to New Zealand in June, ,1943. Before enlisting for overseas service, he was a dentist at Masterton.

Major Donald Stuart Gore Marchbanks left New Zealand with the Second Echelon as a Lieutenant in the Railway Construction Company, Maintenance Group, in April, 1940. He was promoted to Captain in 1941 and temporary Major in November of the same year. He was mentioned in dispatches in March, 1942. In July, 1942, he was appointed to the command of the 19th Army Troops Company, N.Z. Engineers, and in September, 1942, was transferred from the Railway Company to* the Engineers, being promoted to Major the following month.

Major David Adamson Clarke was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in| June, 1940, and left with the Third Echelon as an officer of the Railway] Operating Company, being promoted! to Captain in August, 1940, and transferred to the 17th Railway Operating Company. Before enlisting he was a qualified train-running officer, in the New Zealand Railways Department. In August, 1936, he was attached to the Transportation Superintendent's Office,! Wellington, where he was placed in charge of the work of co-ordinating] wagon supply arrangements throughout the Dominion. He was promoted Major in January, 1942, and returned to New Zealand last year. He has since ] resumed his civilian employment with the Railways Department. Major Alban Vincent Knapp left the Post and Telegraph Department to proceed overseas with the Second Echelon. He was commissioned, as a 2nd Lieutenant and posted to the Base Post Office in February, 1940. When the contingent reached Britain, he was given charge of the post office established there, with the temporary rank of Lieutenant. He later went to the Middle East and became Assistant Director of Postal Services, 2nd N.Z.E.F., in October, 1941, with the rank of Captain. He was promoted temporary Major in April, 1942. In July of last year he proceeded to England on a tour of duty to review and report on the Base Post Office there.

Matron Doris Irene Brown enrolled in the New Zealand Army Nursing Service Reserve in 1933, and in May, 1939, was promoted to Sister and transferred to the active list. She left New Zealand with the First Echelon, and in July, 1940, was appointed Matron, No. 4 New Zealand General Hospital. In 1941 she was mentioned in dispatches, and in 1942 she was made an associate of the Royal Red Cross. Matron Brown returned to New Zealand in July, 1943.

Sister Edith .Jo Wilson was trained at the Auckland Public Hospital and at Whangarei Hospital (Maternity)*' later spending four years with the Thames Hospital. She joined the New Zealand Army Nursing Service as a staff nurse in July, 1939, and left New Zealand with the Second Echelon in April, 1940, as a Sister. Prior to enlistment she was assistant matron at Thames Hospital. She returned to New Zealand and was transferred to the reserve list early in 1942.