A GALLANT OFFICER

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue LXXIV, 4 March 1919, Page 2

A GALLANT OFFICER

LATE MAJOR J. M. RICHMOND,

D.S.O

An appreciation or the iat a Major J- M. ifcoumond, D.&.0., A'ew Zealand Artillery, wm> was lalkd in i<ranoe a few aays beiore the aivo.isuco wtu signen, ha& been written by J3rigadier-(.<ene-ral U. M.' Johnston, Commander, Royal Artuiery, New Zealand Division, which says (niter alia.):

"4ew people in New Zealand will realise that in Major J. M. liicnmond, D.b.U., M.0., R.N.Z.A., wiio was killed by a b.9 shell- on tJxe high road between Solesmes and Le on the afternoon of Sunday, October 27th, 1918, New Zealand lost one of her most prominent Staff officers.

"Leaving New Zealand with the Mam Body in October, 1914, he sei-ved with the New Zealand Field Artillery without a break until tine day of his' death, first as adjutant of the Field Artillery brigade, and later, when the j foz"ce expanded into a division, as lirigade Major of the .Divisional Artillery, which appointment he held until August 14tn, 1918, when h© relinquished it at his own request to command a battery- Re landed in the first boat conveying New Zealand troops to the shore at Gaiiipoli, and remained at Anzac till the hnai day of evacuation, when he «mbarked in the last boat, Having voiunceered to assist in the blowing up of an old sin. howitzer which was kept in action till tne last moment. He accompanied tne division to France, "and serred in all tne engagements in'which the New Zealand Artillery took part. The infantry spf-nda only a portion of its time in tiie line, whereas the artillery seldom leaves it. This necessitates a great deal of fighting in conjunction with otner divisions, and all senior and Statf artillery officers with whom the New Zealand > Artillery worked were loud in their praise of the work and abilities of Major Richmond.

"His orders were models of what orders should be; lucid and conojse, they were never misunderstood, and his instructions were so well written that neighboring Divisions of ten copied fclLem. In thirty years' experience I have never known an officer who could so quickly grasp a complicated tactical situation and make it appear simple in orders. In addition, he combined with this quickness extreme thoroughness'; it was most unusual to find the slightest mistake even in detail in any of his work. He also had a capacity for mental endurance, and could continue working for 24 hours at a stretch during operations, only giving in when th© critical stages of \a iaattle were over, when it was his habit to sleep for some twelve to sixteen hours at a stretch. It is not too much to say that Major Richmond established a reputation among senior officers of the Home Artillery as a. staff officer of exceptional attainments. His eye for country was excellent! he could walk over a new bit of country, go back to headquarters, and draw a very accurate panoramic sketch of it from memory. He made a most charming companion ip. mess, was exceptionally well read, with a good memory and was devoted to music; it was of ten his habit in Armentieres, where: headquarters wer e billetted in houses, to come into a room adjoining the office during a raid and reueve the strain by playing the piano. During a battle or raid it is necessary for the Divisional Staff to remain at Headquarters and direct operations, ant] the strain awaiting developments is severe.

'On ordinary days he visited the batteries, brigades, and observation stations, and never shrank from carrying out his duty, no matter how dangerous. He hated bloodshed, and the writer weli remembers his horror at seeing blood during the first day of landing at Gallipoli. When inoculated he always fainted, and yet there were few Braver men in. the Division. On' one of the last occasions on which the writer saw him he was trying to stem the flow of blood rrom a horse which . had just been wounded near Havrioourt Wood." (Major Richmond was the eldest son or Mr Maurice W- Richmond, whose death occurred very suddenly on Wednesday evening last.)