BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 2 January 1941, Page 4

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

Lieutenant-Colonel King. Lieutenant-Colonel T. J. King, 0.8. E., left New Zealand wirh the firat echelon of the Expeditionary Force, and is a member of General Freyberg's staff. He was educated at Waitaki and Otago Boys’ High Schools, and afterward entered the Marine Department. On the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, he joined the army ,and left with the Main Body. He served at Gallipoli, where he received his commission, and at the end of the war held the rank of captain. After the war he remained in the permanent forces, and at the beginning of the present war occupied the position of Director of Ordnance Services, Trentham. Colonel King was on the executive of the Wellington Rugby Union, and the New Zealand Rugby Union, and the Wellington Boxing Association. He is a qualified accountant and a solicitor. Sergeant J. D. Ormond. Sergeant John D. Ormond, awarded the Medal of tne Order of the British Empire, is a member of the well-known Ormond family of Hawke’s Bay, a descendant of the Hon. J. D. Ormond, first superintendent of that province and a founder of Hastings. He was horn at Waipukurau in 1905, and was educated at Christ’s College. Christchurch. lie started farming in Waipukurau. He was formerly a member of the l'atangita County Council, president of the Waipukurau Agricultural and Pastoral Association, a member of the New Zealand Meat Producers’ Board for some years, and a director of the Hawke's Bay “Daily Mail.” He was keenly interested in politics, and in 1931 contested the Waipawa seat as an Independent National candidate, when he was narrowly defeated by Mr. A. E. Jull. He was a National candidate for Hawke’s Bay seats at the 1935 and 1938 elections, but was unsuccessful. When the war broke out, he joined up as a private, but was quickly appointed an N.C.0.. and went away with the Second Echelon of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force as a sergeant. During the trip to England, when the convoy was lying at anchor in one of the port« of call. Sergeant D. Peterson was missed and the cry of “Man Overboard” was raised. Sergeant Ormond went overboard with a lifeline, but could find no trace of the misoing man. A very strong tide was running past the stern of the ship out of the berthing basin at the time. Sergeant Ormond was publiciy commended for his action by the officer commanding the troopa on the transport concerned. Group Captain Nevill Group Captain Nevill has filled the position of Air Force Member for Supply on the Air Board since its constitution in 1937. Between 1934 and 1936 he was in the United Kingdom and attended the Air Force Staff College at Andover in 1935, and acted as liaison officer in London in 1936. Group Captain Nevill embarked on a military career by attending the Royal Military College, Duntroon, from 1916 to 1919, and graduated as an artillery officer in the Royal New Zealand Artillery. After serving in various positions in the R.N.Z.A., and the New Zealand Staff Corps, he transferred in 1930 to the Royal New Zealand Air Force as a flight lieutenant. As a student of Victoria University College in 1822 he obtained a science degree and later became an associate fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society. SQUADRON-LEADER COHEN Squadron-Leader R. J. Cohen joined the R.A.F. in 1929, and was trained at Netheraven. He served in Iraq from 1930 to 1933, and then was with the Coastal Command until 1934, when he joined the R.N.Z.A.F., being stationed at Hobsonvillq. When the Flying Training School was founded at Wigram in 1937 he was posted there as Officer Commanding the Advanced Training Squadron, where he remained until June, 1939. Then he was sent to England to assume the command of the 2nd Flight of Wellington bombers to fly to New Zealand. Owing to the intervention of war this flight of bombers was retained by the R.A.F., and Squardon-Leader Cohen served with the New Zealand Squadron R.A.F. from then till February, 1940, when he was posted back to New Zealand to command the Advanced Training Squadron at No. 2 Flying Training School, Woodborne, Blenheim. This post he recently left to take command of No. 2 (General Reconnaissance) Squadron, R.N.Z.A.F., Nelson.