N.Z. Naval Officer Receives O.B.E.

Grey River Argus, 7 October 1949, Page 7

N.Z. Naval Officer Receives O.B.E.

WELLINGTON, Oct 6.

A feat of bravery by a New Zealand naval officer, Commander E. John Gerard, now of Martinborough, was officially recognised at todays 'investiture at Government House when the Governor General Sir Bernard Freyberg, invested him with the insigna of Officer of the Order, of the British Empire.

Commander Gerard was in a destroyer mothership of Hecla, off Cape Towin in 1943, prior to the invasion of North Africa, when a tentacle mine exploded beneath her. Though the ship’s bottom was completely blown out, Commander Gerard, by his daring and ingenuity, brought her back safely to base at Simonstown, near Cape Town. As this feat was performed during a critical period of the war, the Royal Navy maintained its traditional policy of silence. A member of a well-known Canterbury family, Commander Gerard attended the naval colleges of Osborne and Dartmouth. The former Bishop of Waiaou, Bk’fiop iGerard who is in England, is a brother, as also is Mr R. G. Gerard, National Party M.P. for Ashburton. A third brother, Mr Stephen Gerard, formerly of the literary staff of the Dm-in-ion, Wellington, lost his life at Singapore.