DEVOTION TO DUTY

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 52, Issue 3251, 12 April 1943, Page 4

DEVOTION TO DUTY

KEREPEEHI BOY HONOURED GALLANTRY IN ACTION PRIVATE J. MIDDLETON For gallantry in action and devotion to duty Pte. J. Middleton, who is with the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force in North Africa, a son of Mrs H. Middleton, of Kerepeehi, was awarded the following citation by General Alexander, Commander-in-Chief of the Eighth Army The citation which Mrs Middleton recently received at Kerepeehi reads as under:—: <

“No. 2869 Pte. J. Middleton, N.Z.E.F. Your name has been brought to my notice for your gallantry in action. I thank you for your devotion to duty and for the high example you have set.”

H. R. Alexander, General, Oct. 1, 1942. Commander-in-Chief.

A note states the fact that this com- , mendation card has been awarded and will be made in the recipient’s record of service.

IPte. Middleton was born in Thames and later lived in , Turua and then Kerepeehi. He was educated at the Kerepeehi School.

He was a keen sportsman, being a prominent player of hockey, rugby football and cricket as well as an ardent supporter of the Kerepeehi Tennis Club.

Pte. Middleton is a Past Grand of the Kerepeehi Oddfellows’ Lodge. He was among the first to enlist from Kerepeehi and sailed with the First Echelon. At the time ’of his enlistment he was an employee of the Lands and Survey Department, Kere-

peehi. During his service overseas ‘Pte. Middleton has been through the campaigns in Greece, Crete and Libya and. it was in the latter that he was commended.