Two Brothers Serve Together On Staff Of Governor-General

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23042, 5 September 1949, Page 6

Two Brothers Serve Together On Staff Of Governor-General

(P.A.) INVERCARGILL, Sept. 3. Two brothers are serving on the personal staff of the Governor-General, Sir Bernard Freyberg. They are LieutenantColonel E. A. McPhail, D. 5.0., M.C., and bar, honorary aide de camp, of Invercargill and Surgeon-Captain S. McPhail, V.R.D.. R.N.Z.N., of Auckland, honorary physician.

They are the sons of Mr. and Airs. E. McPhail, of Christchurch. This is probably the first time in New Zealand’s vice-regal history that two brothers have served on the personal staff of a governor-general. Lieutenant-Colonel McPhail, who is the accountant of the Invercargill branch of the Bank of New Zealand, enlisted as a private on the outbreak of war and left New Zealand with the Second Echelon. He wen the Military Cross in Creece, gained a bar to the decoration at Ruweisat and was awarded the D.S.O. for the part he played in the Senio River action. He is a former commander of South Island and Auckland battalions.

The appointment of LieutenantColonel McPhail as honorary aide de camp was announced recently. He has also been appointed as commander of the Southland-Otago Infantry Battalion. Surgeon-Captain McPhail. who has been rfeappointed for a further term as His Excellency’s honorary physician, was formerly a member of the Naval Volunteer Reserve. He transferred to the Royal New Zealand Navy after the war and was appointed as director of naval medical services in 1946. Two years later he was promoted surgeoncaptain, the first officer of the Royal New Zealand Navy to attain that rank.