GALLANTRY IN FIELD

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 81, 3 October 1944, Page 4

GALLANTRY IN FIELD

FIJI DEFENCE PERSONNEL Advice that the King has approved of the following awards to 2nd N.Z.E.F. personnel who served with the Fiji Defence Forces, for gallant and distinguished service in the field, has b.een received by the Minister of Defence (Mr. Jones): — Distinguished Service Order. Lieut.-Colonel Geoffrey Thomson Upton. Mrs. M. Upton, Box 277, Suva, Fiji (w.), Military Cross. Honorary Lieutenant Herbert Henry Neeve.- Mrs. J. McL. Neeve, 2 Millais Street, Grey Lynn, Auckland (w.). _ Mentioned in Dispatches. T/Lieutenant Thomas Cuthbert Scott. Mrs. E. M. Scott, 7 Le Cran Street, Timaru (m.). Sergeant Patrick William Egan. Mrs. K. A. Egan, 175 Adelaide Road, Newtown, Wellington (w.). Sergeant Philip Peterson. Mr. W. A. Peterson, R.D., Bombay, Auckland (f.).

In civil life a well-known journalist on the staff of N.Z. Newspapers, Ltd., Lieut.-Colonel Upton was first commissioned as a second-lieutenant in the Auckland Regiment in 1937. He" had previously served three years in the Cambridge 0.T.C., England, followed by" three years in the ranks in the Auckland Regiment. In June, 1940, he was selected for duty with the Fiji Defence Force and was later appointed to the Bth Brigade Group, though remaining seconded to the Fiji Defence Force. He was granted the temporary rank of lieutenant-colonel in December, 1943, when appointed officer commanding an infantry battalion. His unit saw active service in Bougainville with a corps of the United States forces, the commanding officer of which specially commended Colonel Upton for his skilful withdrawal of his battalion across country during an engagement with strong Japanese forces. Colonel Upton's battalion killed 120 of the enemy and wounded'a large number, while itself suffered only one casualty^—one man slightly wounded. During this withdrawal the battalion successfully evacuated 200 friendly natives who would otherwise have been subjected to Japanese reprisals. The American general said that the success of the operation must be credited to the commander of the battalion both for its high state of combat efficiency and for the high degree of troop leadership displayed in extricating the command from a difficult situation. Colonel Upton is 32 years of age. Lieutenant Neeve, who was granted an honorary commisison on being appointed bandmaster of the Bth Brigade Group Band, Fiji, was before the war bandmaster of the Salvation Army*, Citadel Band, Wellington. He went to Fiji in 1940 for duty with the Fiji Defence Force and was appointed bandmaster of a Fiji infantry regiment band. He is 27 years of age.