NEW ZEALAND OFFICERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16773, 13 February 1918, Page 7

NEW ZEALAND OFFICERS.

DEATHS ON ACTIVE SERVICf, . [FROM our ; own CdBBSSPOKD:ENT.]f- - LONDON, Dec. 24. Captain 0. .E. Gallia,- D.5.0., M.C., R.F.A., has been killed in ■ action He enlisted in Wellington, and after having served as a gunner in the Samoan Expeditionary Force, arrived in England in the middle of 1915, and within raj'ew~days"'of his arrival obtained a commission in. the R.F.A., to which, his brother, Lieutenant V. J. Gallie, was -at ready attached. In September lie was awarded the Military Cross, and this was quickly followed by the bestowal of the D.5.0., both decorations being conferred on him at Buckingham Palace last month. Only a few days ago' Captain Gallie'a name was . mentioned in Sir Douglas Haig's latest despatch -list .for valuable services in France. Captain Gallie was awarded the D.S.O. for gallantry in the battle of Passchendaele. He got his guns at work in a position, far. in advance of the gun line for some days, and his decoration resulted from a spontaneous recommendation from the commanders of neighbouring batteries. Lieutenant C. I. Brown, N.Z.F.A., died in Chelsea Hospital after a very .severe operation on the brain. He was wounded in France some time ago and cent to hospital in England, and was eventually discharged apparently cured. When on leave, however, he developed - further trouble at the base of the skull, necessifating the operation. He was buried at Bstokwood Cemetery. Lieutenant Brown was a well known officer in the Garrison Artillery in Wellington, and he married a daughter of Mr. F. L. Garland, of Oriental Bay. _ . An appreciation of the late Captain Noel Gavin, M.C., with bar, R.A.M.C., Wellington, appears in the Irish paper The Northern Whig. Captain Gavin was attached to the Y.C.V. Battalion, of the Royal Irish Rifles, and a member of that battalion, writing to his mother in Ireland, says:—"As I write I hear the battalion is the poorer—and very much the poorer—by the loss of one of the best men I have ever met. I mean our doctor, who has done so much for us all. _ He was thrown from his horse, _ sustaining such severe injuries that he died this morning. We may get the best doctor in the army, but never will we get one to come up to Dr. Gavin's standard. He was so gentle always, and paid the greatest attention to the meanest soldier in the battalion,' listening to every complaint, no matter how small, and doing his best." ... Captain William Ernest Moore, M.C, R.F.A., Auckland, was killed in action on November 14. He'was 34 .years of age, and although born in England, he lived all his life in New Zealand, being educated at the Grammar School and graduating LL.B. from Auckland University in 1906. In 1915 he gave up his practice and came to England, enlisting as a gunner in the R.H.A. In 1916 he became a cadet gunner, and went to the front as an officer in August of that year. He won the Military Cross for "conspicuous gallantry and splendid example." "I do not think;" writes his commanding officer,, "any officer could have been more popular in a brigade. The gunners and drivers are very much upset. They never had a better friend. A stouter, a braver, a more capable, or a more generous officer never lived, I am sure."