Award of D.S.O.

Northland Age, Volume XII, Issue 44, 12 August 1943, Page 1

Award of D.S.O.

Honour for Kaitaia Resident’s Son Previous Investiture Recalled Advice that her eldest son, Brigadier E. W. C. Flavell, M.C., had been awarded the D.S.O. was received recently by Mrs. S. C. Trask, Kaitaia. Full particulars are not yet available, although it is known that the award was made in April last. Enlisting for service in the Great War at the age of 17, Brigadier Flavell was not long in proving himself an efficient soldier, and soon rose to the rank of major, being at that time the reputed youngest officer of that rank in the British Army. He was awarded the Military Cross and two bars in March, 1919, at the age of 20, at which investiture Mrs. Trask was present, together with her daughter and the late Mr. Flavell. In an interview recently Mrs. Trask relates an unenviable experience that befell her son when reutrning by air to England for the D.S.O. decoration. Toward the end of the journey the pilot lost his bearings and the plane became lost. After running out of petrol the pilot told his passengers that they would have to jettison thei* kits and take to the rafts when the plane came down. However, after disposing of their belongings, land was sighted, which foi'tunately proved to be England. The pilot, after some skilful manoeuvring, managed to make a forced landing on the coast. Brigadier Flavell is not a superstitious person, according to Mrs. Trask, but her son points out that there were 13 on board the plane on the trip. It is understood that Brigadier Flavell has been retained in England for special duties with a parachute brigade. Mrs. Trask’s first husband, the late Mr. E. Flavell, died in England in 1919. Prior to his death he had for many years been the proprietor of the “Pig and Whistle” Inn, Thames Haven, Essex. Coming to New Zealand in 1926, “Auntie Em,” as she is affectionately known to her many friends in Kaitaia, entered business in Rotorua shortly after her arrival in this country. She married Mr. S. C. Trask at Rotorua in 1927, eventually coming to Kaitaia in 1936. Mrs. Trask returned to England in 1937 to visit her children and stayed at the home of her distinguished son in Middlesex for many months. Another son by her first marriage, Mr. G. C. Flavell, is a leading aircraftsman in the New Zealand Air Force.